


All I Ever Wanted

by KarkatTheDalek



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Bullying, Chronic Illness, Drug Use, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Gen, Headcanon, I might change these or put up more just to be safe, I'll include more pairings as they show up, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, It'll take some time for this to get to Himiko/Tenko but it'll get there eventually, Major Spoilers, Misogyny, Panic Attacks, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Please let me know if you see any others that I should add, Pre-Canon, Pre-Game(s), Self-Hatred, Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-01-23 08:16:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 66,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12502964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarkatTheDalek/pseuds/KarkatTheDalek
Summary: The greatest mistake you can ever make is assuming your dreams belong to you.The story of how 16 students were enrolled in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles.WARNING: MAJOR V3 ENDGAME SPOILERS





	1. Remnants of Despair

"Okay, let me try again...'Back again and again, ready to rain Despair down on you until your heart gives out, your brain explodes and you're left flat on your ass begging for mercy, ready to kick your teeth in for the _53_ _rd_ time, it's the one, the only... _JUNKO ENOSHIMA!'"_

Tsumugi Shirogane nervously glanced around backstage, absentmindedly tugging at her Ultimate Despair necktie and adjusting her pink wig. "Um...how was that?"

While Tsumugi had always felt that she was an excellent cosplayer (the _Ultimate_ Cosplayer, as she liked to refer to herself these days) she had never felt confident playing Junko Enoshima - which was a shame, considering that she was easily her favorite Danganronpa character. Then again, maybe that was exactly why she didn't. Junko Enoshima was practically a goddess, putting even the greatest of Hope's Peak to shame. It was if the concept of despair itself had deigned to assume a human form. What hope did a plain girl like herself have to portray something as magnificent as that?

Her audience of two, however, seemed pleased.

"Well, as far as Enoshimas go, you can never top the original," said Hiroshi Ozawa, Team Danganronpa's head writer (and thus Tsumugi's direct superior).  A short, rotund man with unkempt black hair and a small pair of glasses perched on his nose, Ozawa was hardly the first man many would call "charismatic", but his deep, even voice had a way of putting Tsumugi at ease.

"But that's hardly a fair standard to hold to anybody," he continued. "The dialogue might be a bit rough, but that's something we can work out before the season actually starts.  You have the look down, as expected, and you bring the perfect amount of energy to the role. Really, that's all anyone can ask for."

Tsumugi beamed. "Thank you very much, Ozawa-san!

Emiko Sawada, the team's marketing director, smiled her assent, or at least Tsumugi assumed she did - as a matter of fact, she never seemed to _stop_ smiling.  An exceptionally pale woman with long, bright yellow hair, "happy" seemed to be her only setting.  She reminded Tsumugi of an American movie she had heard about once, where men would have their wives killed and replaced with submissive robot duplicates.  Of course, Sawada was an influential member of Team Danganronpa, while her husband was apparently an accountant, so...

"I think you've done a splendid job, Shirogane-chan!" Sawada said brightly.  "Of course, we'll need to record a somewhat less vulgar version for the ad campaign, but I think you bring a...zest? Yes, a zest to the character that we haven't seen with her for quite some time!  You'll be the Mastermind of a generation, I'm sure of that much!"

Tsumugi continued to smile, although it lessened somewhat when she recalled that Sawada had used these exact words to describe the Mastermind from Season 50.

 _God, she was awful.  She was definitely only in it for the paycheck, absolutely_ no _respect for the complexities of the-_

"Thank you, Sawada-san," Tsumugi said with a small bow. "I promise I won't let you down."

Sawada clapped her hands together in excitement.  "Wonderful! Now then, let's see...how long do we have?" she asked the nearby stage manager.

"She goes on in five minutes, Sawada-san," said the stage manager.

"Damn it," muttered Ozawa. "She was supposed to be here by now."

"I'm sure she'll make it," said Sawada.  "There's no reason to-"

Tsumugi heard a door open and close behind her.

"Ah, see, no cause for alarm," said Sawada.  "Good afternoon, Yumeno-san!"

Tsumugi turned to see Suzume Yumeno, Team Danganronpa's chief legal officer, striding towards them.  A tall, thin woman with dark red hair, Yumeno surveyed the room from behind a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.  Tsumugi's work with Team Danganronpa rarely brought her into contact with Yumeno - their only notable interaction prior to the preparations for Season 53 had been when Yumeno had her sign a waiver for her participation in Season 52.  Tsumugi, trying to lighten the mood, had joked that it felt like she was signing a contract forfeiting the rights to her soul.

For some reason, Yumeno had not found this amusing.

"Good afternoon, Ozawa-san, Sawada-san," she said, nodding politely to each of them in turn, before turning her gaze to Tsumugi.

"Hello, Shirogane," she said, her voice betraying no emotion.

"H-hello, Yumeno-san," Tsumugi said, quickly bowing to her.

Yumeno nodded, and turned her attention to Sawada.

"I apologize for my late arrival. I was giving some last minute parental advice."

:Oh, that's right!" Tsumugi spoke up without thinking.  "Your daughter's auditioning for this season, isn't she?"

Yumeno turned her head towards her, and Tsumugi realized too late that this might have not appropriate to mention. Fortunately, however, Yumeno merely gave a slight smile.

"I expect she'll do more than that," she said before turning her attention back towards Sawada.

"You said you had a question for me?" she asked the marketing director as she put the briefcase she had been carrying down on a nearby table.

"Oh yes, let me see here..." Sawada muttered to herself, shifting through some papers. "Ah, here we are! Now, I want to be clear here - we _are_ legally obligated to disclose that two of the male slots and one of the female slots have already been filled?"

Yumeno took the document that Sawada had been reading from and scanned it briefly.

"Yes, that's correct."

"Won't that be spoiling things, though?" asked Ozawa.  "I mean, the audience knows that the Ultimate Survivor and the Mastermind have already been selected, and the first person camera feature has already been announced.  Won't that allow them to figure out who the Mastermind is?"

"I do not believe that should be an issue," responded Yumeno.  "Amami is the only one whose appearance is known to the general public, since Shirogane used a false name and face last season for her trial run. And no one knows _what_ Kiibo will look like. For all they know now, the first person camera could be female and the Mastermind could disguise themselves as a boy.  And even when we _do_ officially reveal Kiibo's appearance, they still wouldn't know for certain which of the girls the Mastermind will be. Besides, all of the applicants have signed non-disclosure agreements - if any of them leak what they see or hear here, the lawsuits will be on them so fast they won't have time to blink."

"See? I _told_ you it would be fine," Sawada said with a smile.

Ozawa shrugged.  "Alright, fair enough."

"Thirty seconds!" called the stage manager.

"If you'll excuse me," Yumeno said as she grabbed her briefcase and made to leave the way she came. "I have a few things I need to take care of."

"Okay, Shirogane," Ozawa said as they walked toward the stage curtains.  "Remember, you're Junko Enoshima the 53rd - one girl in a long line of Ultimate Despairs. Laugh at them, tell jokes, shit-talk them, hell, _flirt_ with them if you want.  Whether they love you or they hate you, just make it clear that for all intents and purposes, you _are_ Junko Enoshima."

"But no pressure!" Sawada offered cheerfully.

Tsumugi did her best to push all her doubts away.

 _I'm_ _Junko Enoshima, I'm Junko Enoshima, I'm the Ultimate Mother-Fucking Despair, I'm J-to-the-U-to-the-N-to-the-K-to-the-_

The familiar Danganronpa theme started to play over the loudspeakers, and the unmistakable voice of Monokuma rang out.

 _"_ _Ladies and gentleman, bow down to the soon-to-be new god of your world! Give it up for your all-new-"_

"Okay, you're on in 5..." announced the stage manager.  "4..."

".. _your all-improved..."_

"3...2..."

_I can do this...can do this..._

_"..._ _Ultimate Despair!"_

The stage manager pointed at Tsumugi, who practically dove through the curtains and out onto the stage.  She winced in pain as she slid on her bare knees, but fortunately the machine-generated mist combined with the shadows produced by the fierce stage lighting to obscure her face.  Knowing that this wouldn't last long, she willed herself to maintain composure, and put on a large, arrogant smirk.

"Back again and again," she began to recite as she slowly rose, not missing a beat, "ready to rain Despair down on you until your heart gives out, your brain explodes and you're left flat on your ass begging for mercy, ready to kick your teeth in for the _53_ _rd_ time, it's the one, the only... _JUNKO! ENO! SHIMA!"_

A spotlight shined down on her, and she looked out to a cheering crowd of hundreds.

"Now!" she continued.  "It would seem we have _quite_ the conundrum on our hands!"

She snapped her fingers, and an image of meteors raining down on Tokyo sprang up on the giant TV screen above the stage.

"The Earth is about to be destroyed!" she shouted, her hands clutching her cheeks in mock anguish as she sank to her knees.  "Oh, the humanity! Armageddon unleashed upon us in the prime of our youth! Can't you just _feel_ the despair?"

She knew she was milking it, but the crowd ate it up.  Many were on their feet, booing her - all part of the show, of course.  After all, she _was_ the villain of the piece.

"Ah, but alas, there _is_ hope," she said glumly.  Several people laughed at this response, and several more gave more cheers.

"Yes, that's right - sixteen of our nation's best and brightest will soon be launched into space in a mighty ark, where they can hone their talents, find a new world, and begin the human race anew!"

The image of said ark flashed onscreen, to more applause.  Not for the first time, she wondered just what the rest of the world was doing in this scenario.  And wouldn't sixteen people be way too few to repopulate humanity without running into major problems?  And that wasn't even counting what the Killing Game would do to them...

The audience was still loving it, though, so Tsumugi pushed on.

"Of course, don't go thinking we won't let you off without a fight!"

There was an exceedingly familiar laugh, and Monokuma's face filled the screen.

 _"_ _That's right - I'm_ back _, baby! And I'm not gonna let_ any _of you little bastards get your little, grubby, hope-stained fingers anywhere near this delicious despair!"_

Not the best line they've come up with for him, sure, but it got the job done.  There were more playful boos from the audience, with some of them performing rather obscene gestures at the bear.

"What, think you can win?" asked Tsumugi.  "Think you've got the right stuff?"

There was a massive chorus of yeses, with several "fuck yeahs" thrown in for good measure.

"Alright, fine," she said with a resigned shrug. "Your funeral.  So, over the next 5 days, the people upstairs are going to be interviewing each and every one of you jackasses, and they'll find out..."

She cast her eyes over the crowd, and somehow made eye contact with a slim, timid-looking boy wearing a black cap, right in the middle of the crowd.

"...just who it is you wanna be."

* * *

Rantaro Amami wanted to vomit.

He wasn't sure why Team Danganronpa had felt the need to broadcast the opening ceremonies on the TV in the waiting room they had put him in.  He had considered that they _wanted_ to torture him, but decided that probably wasn't it - from what he could tell, he had brought them nothing but great ratings in both of his past seasons, and he didn't think he had done anything that would make one of them hold a grudge (though he _had_ had some choice words for the last Mastermind after she revealed herself...nah, that probably wasn't it).  No, he figured that they were probably just that clueless.

Of course, he could just turn it off, but something in him forced him to keep watching - a reminder of what was happening, he supposed.  To think, _he_ had once been in an audience much like that, cheering for the 5 _1_ _st_ Junko Enoshima as she went on about...damn it, he forgot what was supposed to be destroying the Earth that time.  Giant Despair Worms or something? Yeah, that sounded right.  God, that felt like a century ago.

_It was last year._

Feeling thirsty, he went over to a nearby mini fridge and got himself a bottle of water.  Looking around the waiting room, he noticed that there was absolutely nothing in the room he could use to hurt himself or anyone else that came in - nothing especially sharp or heavy that could be used as a weapon ( _Yeah, guess where_ that _instinct came from)_.  And of course, if he tried to, say, bash his head against the wall, there were two very large men monitoring him via security camera right next door.

Not that any of this was necessary - he had long since given up any hope of escaping.

The door opened, and he turned to see a familiar face.

"If you don't mind, Amami, I'd like to make this quick," said Suzume Yumeno as she walked in, one of the large men from the other room accompanying her.  "I have other business to take care of before the auditions begin tomorrow morning."

Rantaro sighed, and gave a smile that he sincerely hope read "Fuck you."

"Fair enough," he said, taking a seat at a nearby table.  "I wouldn't want to keep you waiting."

Yumeno sat down across from him, giving a smile that he was sure expressed a similar sentiment to his own.  The large man stood by the wall, never taking his eyes off Rantaro.  The Survivor recognized him on sight - not too hard, when he had what appeared to be a red dragon tattooed on the right side of his face.

"I'm so glad we have such a cooperative Survivor now," she said as she reached into her briefcase and pulled out a pen and a single sheet of paper. "It's much preferable to last time's fiasco."

"Last time's fiasco", of course, referred to how he had kicked and screamed and told them all to go to hell until someone stuck a needle in him that made everything seep away and when he woke up Yumeno thrust a paper into his face and told him that if he didn't sign it she would make sure his family _never_ got his prize money and-

"Here we are," she said to him, placing the pen and paper in front of him.  "As you know, by signing this, you hereby consent to participate in the 53rd season of Danganronpa.  Your personality and memories will be rewritten at our discretion, and will be restored upon-"

"Yeah, I know," Rantaro interrupted. "I did this once already."

Well, twice, actually, but he had been so excited the first time - and his sisters had been so insistent - that he didn't bother read the whole thing through.  The second time, once he had calmed down, he actually took the time to look it over more carefully, and noticed stuff that would have caused him to tear up the contract and burnt the pieces if he had spotted it the first time.

Oh well.  Too late to back out now.

Yumeno let out a long sigh.  "I am legally required to read the whole thing through. Do not test my patience."

Rantaro shrugged.  "Fine, whatever."

Yumeno continued, but Rantaro wasn't actually listening - his attention had been drawn back to the TV again.  "Junko" had apparently stopped giving her speech and was now looking through the crowd.  He was familiar with this bit - the idea was that "Junko" would select one of the people in the audience, ask them what they liked about Danganronpa, and then tell them that not only would they get the first audition spot, but they would _also_ (unless they somehow managed to completely botch said audition), a guaranteed spot on the show itself.

Last season, it had been a girl who wanted to be the Ultimate Police Officer, who swore to bring Junko down.  "Junko" gave an extremely hammy groan, told the girl she was sure to be a major annoyance, and handed her the 001 ticket.

As it happened, the girl in question barely contributed to the first trial and wound up as the second victim.

(Rantaro had done his best to forget the names - it made the waiting period much easier.)

In any case, this "Junko" had picked another girl for the role - one with long, black pigtails, and an expression that seemed to waver between wishing she was anywhere but there and wanting to be there more than anything in the world.

"And what might your name be, _peasant_?"

"I-I'm," the girl stammered.  "H-haru - MAKI!"

"Junko" burst out laughing.  "Haru Maki, huh? So, you want to take off into space?  Save the human race?"

"I...it's not...y-yes. Yes, that's exactly what I want to do!"

Her embarrassment gone, Haru (?) suddenly looked determined.

"Mhm...alright then.  Tell me, Haru-chan, was is it you love so much about our little set-up here?"

"Bringing hope to people," she answered with conviction, even while blushing furiously, and Rantaro would have burst out laughing if Yumeno wasn't sitting right there.

"Junko" rolled her eyes.

"For fuck's sake," she muttered, and the crowd roared with laughter.  After they had calmed down, the Ultimate Despair asked her next question.

"Okay, Hopey-Hope-chan - what do you want your Ultimate Talent to be?"

Thinking it would be Ultimate Detective or another talent that had come up a million times before, Rantaro took another sip of water.

"Ultimate Assassin."

Rantaro suddenly spat out his mouthful of water, right onto-

...Oops.

Yumeno just stared at him for a moment, then got up, took a paper towel, and dried herself off. Afterwards, she sat back down, threw the now soaking wet contract in the trash, and produced a fresh one from her briefcase.

"Very well," she said to him.  "I was finishing anyway.  Sign here, please."

Rantaro gingerly took the pen and did so, keeping one eye on the television all the same.  "Junko", it seemed, had been momentarily stunned silent, but she managed to rally all the same.

"Well...that should be...exciting," she said, before quickly producing the 001 ticket (wait, was she seriously hiding it in her cleavage?).  "Congratulations! You get the first spot!"

The future Ultimate Assassin squealed in delight, grabbing the ticket and giving "Junko" an enormous hug.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Ack..." the Ultimate Despair wheezed as the girl practically lifted her off the ground. "Please...wait until the game starts...to kill someone."

Haru (?) let her go.

"Sorry," she said, again embarrassed. She awkwardly moved to head back to her seat, but before she did so, she turned around and dramatically pointed at "Junko".

"And my name is Maki!" she shouted.  "Maki Harukawa!"

"Junko" gave her a wide, ear-to-ear grin.

"I'll be sure to remember that," she in a whisper that would have been almost imperceptible if she hadn't said it into a microphone.

Suddenly, the television's sound cut out.  Rantaro looked up to see Yumeno holding the remote, having just hit "Mute".

"Sometime within the next _decade_ , Amami."

He hurriedly went through the contract, signing every dotted line allotted to him, then handed it back to Yumeno.

"Very good," she said.  "Chiba, if you would."

The large man with the tattoo stepped forward, adding his own signature to show that he had witnessed the document's signing.  Yumeno swiftly added her own, and then she took the contract and stood up.

"That will be all, Amami," she told him.  "Someone will come shortly to escort you to your suite.  Enjoy the next three months."

And with that, she and Chiba left as quickly as they came.

Rantaro turned his attention back to the television.  He didn't bother to turn the sound back on - he couldn't stand to listen anymore.  That didn't help him much, however, as when Junko turned to stare directly into the camera, a memory arose, unbidden...

 _"How can you do this?" he had asked after the truth - the_ real _truth - came out, his tears mixing with the sight of the dissolving campus.  "How can you do all of this in the name of someone who isn't even real?"_

 _The girl he thought was his friend, the girl he thought he might have loved -_ the girl who was standing onstage right now _\- simply smiled._

_"Oh, Rantaro-kun,"  she said as she gently touched his cheek.  "Of course she's real.  None of this would have happened if she wasn't."_

Rantaro Amami wanted to vomit.

* * *

 _????????_ _Theater_

_I do the same thing I do every morning between seasons - I grab my phone, search for "danganronpa", and pray to whoever I can think of that might be listening that the past two decades have all been some horrible, godawful dream.  A lesson never to eat hot dogs, sushi and chocolate ice cream together for dinner again._

_Top result today: "Auditions for 53rd_ _Danganronpa Season Begin, Likely to Break Record for Most Applicants"._

 _I click on it - because why the fuck_ wouldn't _I - and I see my name mentioned five times._

_Of course it is.  I don't know why I ever act like it wouldn't be._

Well, _I say to myself as I drag myself out of bed and head to the kitchen to make breakfast,_ that's what I get for daring to hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, my first fic on the site.
> 
> No, I'm not nervous, why would I be nervous?
> 
> ...Okay, I'm a _little _nervous.__  
>  __  
> Seriously, though, I've been wanting to explore how the V3 students came to participate in Danganronpa in the first place for awhile now, as well as the nature of Team Danganronpa itself and the general state of the outside world.  
>  __  
> I have a good portion of the story planned out in my head, but most of it has yet to actually be written down. As such, I don't have a set schedule for this, although I'm going to try my hardest not to take _too_ long between chapters.  
>  __  
> I'll probably be using a few headcanons that I've seen before and taken a liking to, but I'll do my best to put a new spin on them, while also using a few ideas of my own.  
>  __  
> (I also have some ideas for post-V3, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)  
>  __  
> Anyway, I don't have much else to say other than that I hope you enjoy the story! Please leave some comments below and tell me what you think!  
> 


	2. People Talking Without Speaking, People Hearing Without Listening

**Auditions - Day 1**

Kiibo didn't have dreams when he was in sleep mode.  In fact, he had been rather confused by the concept until his father had explained it to him.  When Kiibo had asked his father if he was programmed to have them himself, however, he had been told that he wasn't.

 _"I_ _could try writing a program for it, but I'd say it's better to give your processors a full break every now and then,"_ he had said to him.  _"_ _Besides, I don't think you're missing anything - I do all my best thinking when I'm awake, after all!"_

His father had laughed, and Kiibo laughed with him, but he still sometimes wondered what dreams might be like.  Like being awake, but...stranger, he supposed?  For now, at least, it seemed that having nothing on his mind while he slept was peaceful enough.  A nice bit of rest before the morning diagnostic always felt just right.

"The time is 0930, Tokyo time," he recited.  "The date is Monday, September 7, 2037.  All systems are functional and operating smoothly." His camera activated, giving him full view of the tech lab, which was currently packed with technicians going about their daily business.  Right in front of him, however, Kiibo saw the man he was hoping to see.

"Good morning, Father! I trust you slept well?" he asked, the large computer that housed his intelligence projecting a holographic image of the appearance he was to take on during the 53rd season.

"Good morning to you as well, Kiibo! Yes, I had a fine night's sleep," Professor Daichi Idabashi answered with a smile.  The sight of the greying (but still energetic) professor always warmed Kiibo's heart (or whatever an artificial intelligence might call their "heart", in that sense). 

At the age of 65, the professor was one of the eldest members of Team Danganronpa, though he was also one of the newer department heads, having been brought on during Season 27 (most of the others had joined by Season 11, which was also coincidentally when they stopped subtitling each season).  As chief technical officer, he headed the planning, development and maintenance of whatever advanced technology was needed for the show, and this coming season, Kiibo would be added to that category.

"What will we be working on today?" Kiibo asked eagerly.

"Well, today everyone will mostly be testing a few of the key programs, just to make sure that we don't run into any nasty surprises during the next season," said Idabashi.  "We don't want a repeat of what happened during Season 45, after all."

Some of the technicians in the room laughed, but were quickly silenced by a few glares from their fellows - from what little Kiibo had heard about the incident, it had resulted in several of their colleagues losing their jobs, and several more would have as well if Idabashi hadn't stepped in to save them.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to participate today, however," added Idabashi.  "Or for the next several days, for that matter."

"Why is that, Father?" asked Kiibo.

"Hmm?  Wait, Kiibo, don't tell me you've forgotten what today is!"

Confused, Kiibo quickly searched through his memory files until he found the information for that day.

"Oh, of course - the auditions!"

"That is correct."

Right, he _had_ been told about this - since he would be participating in the upcoming season, Idabashi had thought it would be best if Kiibo took note of the candidates.  He might not possess his memories of them when the game began, but Idabashi thought that watching the applicants will allow him to gain experience for interacting with them, which _would_ be necessary for the game, as his character, despite being the Ultimate Robot, would otherwise be a high school student like any other.

Still...

"You'll be gone all day?" he asked.

"Yes, that's right.  In fact, I'll be out during the day for most of this week - until Friday."

"...Oh." Kiibo's face fell, which Idabashi noticed.

"I'm sorry, Kiibo, I really am," he said hastily.  "But Fukumoto-san insisted I be there.  It won't be the whole day, I assure you - I'll be back in time for dinner."

"Oh, okay then!" said Kiibo, his face brightening up.  "I understand!"

"Excellent," said Idabashi, clearing his throat.

"Now then," he continued, "as I will not be here to see to your needs, Yonaga-san will be supervising you during the day."

A young woman with dark skin and white hair tied back in a ponytail stepped forward.

"Hello, Kiibo-kun," she said with a bow.  "I don't believe we've been properly introduced yet.  My name is Kelsey Yonaga.  If you need anything, please feel free to ask me."

"Nice to meet you, Yonaga-san!" Kiibo said with a smile.

She smiled back at him.  "Oh, you can just call me Kelsey if you want, Kiibo-kun - I don't mind."

"Oh?" he said.  "Well, in that case, you can just call me Kiibo!"

She looked surprised at this.  "Oh...well, if you're sure," she said, looking questioningly at Idabashi, who just shrugged.

"If it's fine with him, it's fine with me," he told her.  "Just be careful around him - he's _quite_ the charmer."

"Father! What's that supposed to mean?"

Idabashi chuckled again, knowingly stroking his beard.  "Oh, nothing, nothing," he said as he turned to leave.  "I should be back at 7:30.  Everyone hold down the fort until then!"

Everyone nodded and gave their goodbyes as Idabashi left the room.  Once he had done so, Kelsey turned to Kiibo.

"They'll be starting the auditions soon," she told him.  "Would you like me to set up a stream for you to watch now?"

"Thank you!" he said.  "I would very much appreciate that."

As she made the preparations, Kiibo took the time to think about what was to come.  Having been created to participate in Danganronpa, he had been programmed with the mind and personality of a teenage boy, yet he had never had any friends that a teenage boy would normally have.  Few members of Team Danganronpa made trips up to the tech lab, and most of the employees who _did_ work there were too engrossed in their work to spare more than a few seconds of conversation, so the only relationship he _did_ have was with Idabashi, who has always treated him like a son - and as he had no other children, it was not as if Kiibo had any siblings.

...Well, that wasn't _quite_ true.  There was her, of course, but she was much older than him - he couldn't really think of her as a peer (and, of course, the Professor hadn't created _her _).  And there was _them,_ but he tried his best to forget they existed.  It sounded mean, but anyone else who interacted with them immediately understood.__

Just then, Kelsey finished her preparations, and Kiibo suddenly saw a live feed of the enormous Team Danganronpa HQ lobby, where several hundred students were essentially camped out for the day, waiting for their turn to audition.

 _Thirteen of them will be selected for the game_ , he thought to himself.

 _..._ _I wonder if any of them will like me_.

* * *

 Miu was nervously munching on a piece of toast.  Was she sure this was what she wanted?  Of course she was a fan of Danganronpa - there was no question of that.  But when she had filled out the initial application, she hadn't expected to actually get _picked_.  Over a hundred thousand people had applied, and _she_ was one of only 600 to make it to the second round?  Why her, of all people?

She tried bringing these doubts up with her sister, but they hadn't exactly been well-received.

"Of _course_ this is what you wanted," her sister scoffed at her as she downed a glass of juice.  "If you didn't, we wouldn't be here."

"B-but, I mean...you only signed up because of me, right?"

"I mean, _yeah_ \- I couldn't just let you go in on your own! We have to look out for each other - that's what being twin sisters is all about, duh!"

 _Is that it?_ Miu thought to herself.  _Or could you just not stand letting me have something you didn't?_

That's how it had always been with them - anything that Miu wanted to do, her sister wanted to do too, always claiming that she had to "look out for Miu".  And of course, Miu, not being one for the spotlight anyway, tended to fade into the background when her sister got involved, meaning that _she_ got all the glory, while Miu got nothing.

Anger simmering within her, Miu took to studying their surroundings to calm herself.  She had known that the Danganronpa HQ was large, but she hadn't realize it was this massive.  In addition to the large theatre where the opening ceremony had taken place ( _Holy shit she was looking_ right _at me!)_ and the dining hall they were currently eating in, there was a hotel that was somehow big enough to house all 600 applicants and apparently still have vacancies, a miniature shopping center full of food and Danganronpa-themed merchandise, a gym, an indoor pool, and even its own subway station, through which they had arrived.  And all of that was just what was open to the public - Miu yearned to see what was behind all of the doors marked "Employees Only", but she knew that if anything would get her thrown out of the auditions, that would.

Her sister glanced at her phone, then looked up at her.  "Hey, it's almost time - we'd better head back and meet up with Akane."

They both cleaned up their meals and headed towards the door to the lobby.  Unfortunately, they had picked exactly the wrong time to do so, as a whole crowd of applicants had gotten the same idea.  Miu's sister strode boldly ahead, easily keeping pace with the crowd, but Miu, not being nearly as coordinated, kept getting bumped and jostled, until...

_SMACK!_

She was knocked to the ground, having slammed right into somebody.

"Argh...shit," she muttered.  "Watch where you're going, you...uh..."

Standing over her was a large boy who...well, he could hardly be called a boy - "mountain" would have been closer.  He must have been two meters tall at the least, and his entire body bulged with muscles.  He wore a neatly pressed school uniform, which clashed wildly with his hair - was even longer than hers, and looked wild and unkempt.  The large, round glasses he wore were almost comical, and Miu might have laughed (involuntarily, of course - he was _very_ large, after all) if it wasn't for the piercing red eyes behind him.

"Were you gonna say something?" he all but growled at her.

"I...I..." she stammered as she quietly quaked on the floor.  "No...I...wasn't going to say anything! ...At all! ...Ever again.  ...Please don't kill me."

The boy's eyes widened, then he shook his head in frustration.

"Damnit, I...sorry about that," he said, his voice softening.  "Here, let me help."

He bent down and extended a hand to help her up.  Miu hesitated for a moment, and then was about to take it when...

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing with my sister?!"

Oh sweet Jesus, why?

Miu's sister was walking briskly towards them, her eyes flashing with anger.  The large boy's eyes flashed with anger again as he rounded on Miu's sister, and for a moment Miu was sure that things were about to get very bad, when out of the blue, _another_ voice called out-

"GONTA!"

Miu turned to look at the source of the voice, and in that moment was absolutely certain that this was all some prank.

Another boy walked over, and this one was the completely opposite of the first.  What was immediately noticeable about him was that he was incredibly short - he was barely over a meter tall, if that - with hair to match, having probably shaved it fairly recently.  His gaze seemed oddly devoid of emotion, with no real signs of actively suppressing it.  What drew the most attention, however, was his voice - it was so deep, it sounded like it should belong to Mountain Boy, not this shorty.

"There you are, big guy," the short boy said as he walked over to the large boy.  "Thought I lost you for a second.  What's going on over here?"

"Oh, Hoshi-kun!" Mountain Boy - who was apparently named Gonta - said as he stood up back to his full height.  "I...I'm sorry, I crashed into that girl, and then that other one started yelling at me, and then...sorry.  I hate it when this happens."

"I know, but you shouldn't be apologizing to me," said Shorty - _Hoshi_ \- staring up at Gonta.  "You should be apologizing to them."

Gonta took a deep breath and turned to Miu and her sister.

"I'm sorry," he said, sounding sincere.  "I...I didn't mean to scare you."

"' _Scare us?'"_ Miu's sister said indignantly.  "I see you getting ready to do God knows what to my sister, and you say you're sorry for 'scaring us?'"

Gonta's eyes flashed with anger again.  "I wasn't-"

"Gonta, relax," Hoshi said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back with surprising strength.

"Sis, give it a rest," said Miu as she got to her feet.  "I wasn't watching where I was going, I crashed into him, he tried to help me up.  Don't just jump to conclusions like that."

Miu's sister suddenly looked sheepish.  "O-oh.  W-well, I just...I was only..."

Miu rolled her eyes.  "I can't believe you sometimes."

"Hey, don't talk to your sister like that," said Hoshi sternly.  "She's just looking out for you."

 _Yeah, well you didn't have to grow up with her_ , is what Miu wanted to say, but she held her tongue.

Her sister, meanwhile, turned to Gonta.  "Sorry for yelling you at that...um..."

"Gokuhara," offered the large boy.  "Gonta Gokuhara.  And don't worry about it.  I wasn't watching where I was going either, and I've...got some issues I need to work out."

Embarrassed, he turned to his companion.  "Hoshi, why don't we get going?"

The short boy nodded.  "Alright, let's go." He nodded to the girls.  "Later, you two.  Good luck with your auditions."

"Oh, um...you too!" said Miu's sister as the two boys left, before turning back to Miu.  "Well...want to go meet with Akane now?"

Miu was silent for a moment, then she nodded.  "Yes, let's."

* * *

 "So, I saw the tape of your performance last night, Shirogane, and I have to say, I was _very_ impressed, very impressed indeed.  Sawada-san told me that she thought you were the best Enoshima we've had in _at least_ the last ten seasons, and I have to say, I'm inclined to agree with her."

"T-thank you very much, Fukumoto-san, sir!" Tsumugi squeaked as she bowed for the fourth time in the last five minutes.  She was worried that might seem excessive, but she figured it was better to risk being excessively formal than not formal enough when speaking to Kichiro Fukumoto, co-founder and current CEO of Team Danganronpa.

Fukumoto merely chuckled, straightening his tie in front of a mirror.  A tall, well-built man clad in a blue pinstripe suit, with slick black hair and a large mustache, he cut an imposing figure.  He was very gregarious and quick to give praise when he was in good spirits, but Tsumugi had heard that he was prone to lose his temper considerably when he was in a sour mood, although as this was comparatively rare these days, she had never witnessed it herself.  In any case, while she certainly found him intimidating - screwing up badly enough in front of him _could_ cause her to lose her job - she never felt like she resented him.  How could anybody?  He _was_ the man who had brought Team Danganronpa to where it was today, after all.

"You know," Fukumoto continued as he began to comb his hair, "if you had joined the team any sooner, we likely would have would have made you a Mastermind before now, which would have been a waste, in my opinion.  No, it's much better that you signed on with us when you did - I expect great things from you in the future, Shirogane."

Tsumugi swelled with pride.  "I won't let you down, sir!  I promise I'll play the role perfectly!"

"See that you do!" said Fukumoto, turning toward her, now satisfied with his appearance.  "Now, you have my speech prepared, yes?"

"Yes sir!" she said, handing him a small stack of cue cards.  Fukumoto took them and scanned them briefly.

"Mhm, I see...very good.  Now then, I believe you were to remain in the audience today?"

Tsumugi nodded.  The idea was, since she had only appeared in public in costume as Junko, no one would be inclined to recognize her, especially if she kept her demeanor relatively inconspicuous.  This way, she would be able to walk among and interact with the various applicants and get an idea of their personalities.  As her memory and personality alteration would be minimal - a necessity for Masterminds to fulfill their roles - she would need to get used to interacting with the potential participants, while also keeping an eye out for people that she thought that the department heads ought to pay attention to during the auditions.

"Excellent," said Fukumoto.  "You'll be able to sneak in unnoticed?"

Tsumugi nodded again.

"Then go.  I will being my announcement shortly.  Good luck out there, Shirogane."

"Thank you very much, Fukumoto-san," she said, bowing one last time before turning to leave the CEO's dressing room.  She walked down the hall that lead to the lobby, stopping just short of the door; as it was clearly labeled "Employees Only" on the other side, walking through it would probably compromise her attempts at remaining inconspicuous.  Instead, she put her ear to the door and waiting.

A minute later, her patience was rewarded, as she heard Fukumoto's voice announce, "Hello, I'm Kichiro Fukumoto, Founder and CEO of Team Danganronpa, and I'd like to personally welcome all of you to the auditions for the 53rd season of Danganronpa!"

There was a great deal of cheering and applauding, and Tsumugi took that as her cue to slip in unnoticed.  She quickly opened the door and slipped through, letting it close behind her.  To her relief, no one seemed to notice - the only person near her who wasn't paying attention to Fukumoto's announcement was a short, purple haired boy with a checkered scarf around his neck, and he looked too bored to have seen her come through the door.

Tsumugi looked up to see Fukumoto's face projected on several television screens that were positioned around the lobby - it seemed like no matter where she turned, she could see his gleaming white smile.

"Now then, before we begin, I've been given the humble task of establishing a few rules," he continued.  "First, as there are 600 of you, we will be dividing the auditions equally among the next 5 days.   Essentially, that means that applicants 001-120 will audition today, 121-240 will audition tomorrow, and so on."

A mass of groans erupted throughout the audience, and Tsumugi knew that they likely came from those who knew that they had higher numbers than 120.

"Each of these numbers are displayed on each of your tickets, which you received in the mail with your initial acceptance letter," Fukumoto went on, apparently unaware of the discontent in the room.  "I should note that Applicant 001 should only need the ticket she received last night, as it overrides whatever previous ticket she received."

There was a rustling of paper throughout the room as several people made to check the number on their tickets, which prompted a fresh wave of groans.  Tsumugi saw several people stare enviously at Maki Harukawa, who stared at the ground in embarrassment.  Tsumugi wanted to go over and comfort her, but decided against it - she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself now.  Perhaps she would talk to her after she had finished her audition.

"Once your name and number are called, you will come to the doors to the audition room, present your ticket to the security guard, and enter.  Then you will be asked a series of questions about yourself, how Danganronpa appeals to you, your ideal Ultimate Talent, and what role you wish to play this season.  This will take anywhere from 5-10 minutes, so I expect that the whole process will take about 10 hours or so - if you're not auditioning today, or won't be doing so until later in the day, I suggest you find a way to occupy yourself.  I should note, however, that if you do not present your ticket to the guard, or fail to arrive when you are called, you will not be permitted to audition.  So if you have, for whatever reason, managed to misplace your ticket, I'd find it now.

At that moment, Tsumugi noticed a tall boy with spiked purple hair and a short goatee suddenly start patting his coat.  With a loud whisper of "Shit!" he promptly took off running towards the hotel, with nearby applicants snickering as he did so.

"Next, a few rules that we at Team Danganronpa expect you to follow.  First, no getting into physical altercations with the staff or other applicants.  Second, while we do allow the use of cell phones and the internet, we _do_ monitor all communications in and out of the complex; any attempt to reveal information about the latest season of Danganronpa - in violation of the NDAs you signed yesterday - is strictly prohibited.  Third, there is a curfew from 10 PM to 8 AM - please remain in the hotel at those times.  Lastly, you are only allowed to enter areas of the complex that are open to the public - do not attempt to access any area that is labelled 'Employees Only'.  Violating any of these rules will result in you being ejected from the premises and disqualified from entering Season 53 of Danganronpa or any future season, even if you have already auditioned.  You may also face legal action, depending on the severity of your transgression."

"And finally, but most importantly," Fukumoto said, his face impassive, "once you have passed through the doors to the audition room, you have crossed the point of no return.  If you are selected for participation - and we will contact you if you are - you _must_ participate, both in the season and in promotional material.  Failure to do so _will_ have consequences."

Some of the applicants expressed looks of discomfort at this, but they were by far the minority - everyone else stared at the screen with rapt attention, some even nodding their approval.  Tsumugi was inclined to agree with them - why would anyone want to back out after coming this far?

"Now then, I believe that's everything.  The auditions will begin in just a few short minutes, so I will bid you all farewell, and good luck."

With one last smile, Fukumoto's face vanished from the screen, and everyone applauded.  Tsumugi was among them, although as she did so, she noticed that the boy in the checkered scarf seemed to only be doing so half-heartedly.  Come to think of it, he looked rather familiar - had she seen him before?

She pondered this for a few minutes, but hadn't made any progress when things officially began.

"When you name and number are called, please come forward and present your ticket to the security guard at the door," announced a clear, female voice over the loudspeaker.  "Applicant 001, Maki Harukawa."

There was another mass of applause as Harukawa, blushing furiously, hurried forward, presented the 001 ticket, and passed through the double doors leading to the audition room.

A wave of adrenaline began to rust through Tsumugi.  Finally, after all the years, it was her time.  It wouldn't be long before they knew who all 16 participants of the new season would be - and she would be the one in charge of them all.

She could hardly wait.

* * *

Fukumoto arrived at the observation room about a minute before the auditions were set to begin.  Directly overlooking the audition room, a one-way mirror separated the two, allowing the department heads to observe the auditions unobtrusively.  The room was also equipped with seven microphones, one for each of the department heads.  If any of them had specific questions or instructions for the interviewer presiding over the auditions, they simply had to press a button at the base of their microphone, and the interviewer would hear them over an earpiece they wore.

Upon entering the room, he saw that he was the last to arrive - all of the other six department heads were already there.

"Ah, good morning, Fukumoto-san," said Yoshiro Kagawa, Team Danganronpa's chief financial officer.  A thin, handsome man with long black hair, glasses and an impeccable black suit, Kagawa had been with Fukumoto since the beginning, his financial expertise having guided the company through even the most difficult economic periods.  If Kagawa sensed an endeavor had profit in it, he was always the first to advocate for it, and he was scarcely ever proven wrong.

"Good morning to you as well, Kagawa," said Fukumoto.  "What did you think of my speech?"

"Your delivery was rather stiff, I thought," said Kagawa in his typical deadpan honesty.  "Personally, I'd suggest you let someone with more experience take that job."

"The kids ought to know who's in charge around here," Fukumoto snapped back at him as he took the center seat, between him and Yumeno.  "And I challenge you to find anyone who could make reciting a rulebook sound interesting."

"Your audience certainly seemed to think it was interesting," said Sawada, smiling brightly.  "They looked _quite_ engaged to me."

Fukumoto gave a smile of his own.  "Well, it's not _that_ hard to capture their attention - all you have to do is say 'Danganronpa'.  Speaking of which, what do you all think of the current batch?"

There was a range of non-committal murmurs, ranging from ambivalence to cautious optimism.

"From a cursory glance, there seems to be a fairly wide range of personalities," offered Takara Mukai, the team's head psychologist.  "Of course, whether that range will be well-represented in the list of _viable_ candidates remains to be seen, but I think precedent speaks well for us there."

Fukumoto nodded.  The small, quiet, silver-haired woman had always had trouble finding work in the past, never making much of an impression on people.  But Fukumoto had seen just what he was looking for in Mukai, and she had proven to be a very useful asset in the years since he hired her. 

Several of his peers had asked him why he had bothered setting up a whole psychology department.  He had simply laughed at them, and told them, "Believe me, in my line of work, it's a necessity." And indeed, Mukai's psychological expertise had proven extremely useful when picking out applicants for the show - in fact, she seemed to have a talent for figuring out who would be the best suited for it.

"I should note that we have a fair number of people who managed to get selected alongside people they know," said Sawada.  "And there are also certain...notable candidates that Yumeno and I discussed with you earlier."

Fukumoto nodded again.  "Well, we'll cross those bridges when we come to them.  Now then, Ozawa, Idabashi - any thoughts?"

Idabashi shrugged.  "My opinions are not relevant at this time.  Should the need for my expertise arise, I will give it then."

"I don't have much to say right now either," said Ozawa.  "I _do_ have some ideas for that Harukawa girl, but I'd prefer to wait until we've had her audition first."

"Well then," said Yumeno as she signaled the interviewer that they were ready to start, "let's not keep them waiting any longer."

* * *

  _???????? Theater_

_Something that I find people say to me a lot is "Wow, you live in L.A.?  Cool, you must meet all sorts of movie stars! I wished I lived there!"_

_None of these people have actually been to L.A._

_I_ wanted _to move to San Francisco, but they told me that rent was actually cheaper in Los Angeles.  I told them that rent actually wasn't much of an issue, but before I knew it they had me looking at apartments, and I wasn't in the mood to argue.  (Don't ask me how they flew me over without me noticing - I was not in a very good place back then.)_

 _..._ _Maybe I'm being too harsh here.  I mean, it can be nice enough.  When you ignore the smog.  And the increasingly shitty public transportation.  And the fact that whenever I try to drive somewhere, I tend to have racist obscenities thrown in my face.  Other than that, good times._

 _As for celebrities...honestly, I rarely meet any.  I mean, I actually_ could _, of course, but I don't really have the energy to go parties or shit like that - besides, I really don't feel like being disappointed._

_My sister, for what it's worth, has managed to get me out of the apartment every now and then and get me to find some work and exercise on occasion.  I'd work out more, but then I start comparing myself to her, and then I just get depressed and listen to Simon & Garfunkel a lot._

_Shit, someone's thinking of me laying on my couch and listening to "The Sound of Silence" and laughing their ass off, aren't they?_

_...Okay, yeah, it is pretty funny, actually._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this and Chapter 3 were originally supposed to be one chapter, but for various reasons, I decided to split them up. If there's a side effect to this, it's that most of the important that I had planned for the second half of Chapter 2 has been moved to Chapter 3, meaning that the current Chapter 2 seems a touch underwhelming, at least to me. Don't worry, Chapter 3 should be up soon - I'd say it'll be some time within the next few days, if not tomorrow. I just need to get one things squared away first.
> 
> Apologies to the good people of Los Angeles. I needed a city with a somewhat less than stellar reputation, and I thought it fit for a variety of reasons, though it's too early to discuss them in detail at the moment. I've never actually been to L.A., so I suppose me slagging on it like this is a little unfair, although the opinions of our nameless narrator should not be taken as my own. (Though I should note that from what I've seen and heard of Los Angeles, I don't think I'd like it that much. Still, that's just my opinion, based on what little I know about the place.)
> 
> And to give credit where credit is due, yes, the chapter title is from "The Sound of Silence."  
>  __  
> Anyway, please leave a comment below and tell me what you think!


	3. Watch Out For Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's what would have been the second half of Chapter 2. Enjoy!

**Auditions - Day 1, cont.**

"I can't believe this!" said Miu's sister as she and Miu watched Harukawa head through the double doors.  "She gets 001, and I get 076?  How is that fair?"

"At least you get to go today," remarked their friend Akane Kurashiki glumly.  A girl with long brown hair with a flower braided into it, Miu wasn't always sure what to think of her - sometimes she seemed very intelligent, while other times she seemed somewhat flighty, though she always seemed rather...strange.  "I'm 253 - I don't get to go until Wednesday...Oh, Miu, what's your number, again?"

Miu looked at her ticket.  She hadn't really paid attention to the number before now, and had been too nervous during Fukumoto's announcement to check it then.  Hopefully, she'd still have time to think about whether she really wanted to-

002.

_Shit._

Miu's sister glanced over her shoulder and groaned.  "Oh c'mon, how is that fair? Why couldn't Enoshima have picked _me_?  I was sitting practically right _next_ to that Harukawa girl, and now she's _sure_ to get in! And 'Ultimate Assassin'?  They can't really give her that, can they?  Everyone else would be as good as dead!"

"Well, at least we get off school for the whole week," said Akane with a smile.

Miu's sister nodded.  "True.  I'm still surprised they managed to get permission for that.  Who knew that Team Danganronpa had _that_ much influence, am I right?"

"And look at it this way," Akane continued. "Sure, there's probably an alternate timeline where one of use got picked to go first, but there's _also_ probably an alternate timeline where we were dead last.  Really, we should be thankful we're going as early as we are."

Miu's sister just groaned louder.  "Akane-chan, please, not more of this alternate reality bullshit.  No one's going to go for it."

"You don't know that!" Akane said defensively.  "I think it would make a really good idea for a season! Granted, sixteen people is probably too many for a mechanic like that...maybe if they did nine or something?  That probably wouldn't be too popular of a change, sure, but I think that it'd be nice to revamp things a little-"

"Again: No.  One.  Will.  Go.  For.  It," repeated Miu's sister angrily.  "You might as well just accept that."

"Why do you have to be so mean all the time?  I've never done anything to you!"

"I'm just trying to spare you the disappointment, that's all!"

"Well, _excuse me_ , princess! You never have any faith in my ideas!"

"That's because-"

Miu ignored them, staring at the double doors leading to the audition room.  She had only 5-10 minutes to make a final decision on whether she wanted to enter.

God, she wished she could be like that Harukawa girl.  She knew exactly what she wanted, and didn't even hesitate to enter.  If her sister was right about one thing, it's that she was one to watch.  She must have nerves of steel.

* * *

Maki Harukawa was _this_ close to completely panicking and running straight out the door, but she fought the impulse down. 

 _Get it together!_ she told herself.  _You've wanted this your whole life - you can't give it all up now!_

She was standing in a room that was perhaps too large for its intended purpose.  There was quite a lot of empty space, with only a small table and chair in the middle of the room, with a camera on the table pointed directly at her, a flashing red light signifying that it was recording.

The chair did have an occupant, however - a young woman with short, bright green hair.  In contrast to every other Team Danganronpa employee she had seen up until this point, she was dressed in casual clothes, probably to put the applicants at ease.  Maki also noticed that she appeared to be wearing an earpiece of some sort - perhaps so that her superiors could communicate with her?

"Hi there!" said the woman, flashing a friendly smile at her.  "My name's Ayumi Ikehara, and I'll be conducting your audition! Could you please state your ticket number and name for me?"

Maki nodded nervously.  "O-of course.  My name is Maki Harukawa, ticket number 001."

Ikehara wrote something down on a notepad.  "Okay, thank you very much! Now, normally we'd talk a lot about what you liked about Danganronpa and what your ideal Ultimate Talent was, but you made that pretty clear last night! So I thought I'd start off by asking you _why_ you've selected Ultimate Assassin."

Maki gulped.  She was hardly at a loss for words - on the contrary, she knew _exactly_ what she wanted to say.  The problem was that once she got started, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to stop.

"W-well..." she started hesitantly.  "You know Mukuro Ikusaba?  The Ultimate Soldier?"

Ikehara nodded.  "Oh yeah, I remember her! She didn't really do much though, did she?"

Maki just stood there, blinking for a moment.

"Um...are you alri-"

"It's not fair!" Maki burst out suddenly.  "I mean, yeah, she died early on in the first game and didn't really get a chance to show off her true talent, but she was _so cool_ in Danganronpa IF! She defied her sister and helped everyone escape and was totally prepared to take responsibility for her actions and she was super badass and you could tell that she loved Naegi-kun _so much_ and that made what happened to her in canon _so tragic_ and I mean I like Kirigiri-chan but Mukuro's a _much_ better love interest for Naegi-kun and I'm _so mad_ that Danganronpa 3 screwed her up, they just made her Junko's obedient sidekick and this stone-cold killer and torturer when she's so much _more_ than that and too many people these days haven't read IF and that makes me really upset sometimes and I just _love her so much_!"

Maki paused to take several deep breaths, during which Ikehara studied her carefully.

"So..." she said cautiously.  "You have been inspired by Mukuro Ikusaba to take on the role of Ultimate Assassin?"

"Exactly! I was thinking that I could be like, a servant of the Mastermind - although I wouldn't know who they were, of course, that wouldn't be fair to the other players, so maybe I could get instructions via Monokuma or something - and I could have this really tragic past that they took advantage of to get me on their side, but over time I could get all these doubts, and maybe I could have a love interest to help me to change sides - it can be a boy or a girl, I don't care which - and I think it could end with either me getting redeemed by sacrificing myself to save them or with both of us managing to escape and survive in the name of everyone's hope, or maybe  _they_ could sacrifice themselves so that _I_ can live and there are just so many possibilities, aren't there?"

"I...see," said Ikehara, beginning to scribble down notes on her pad.

"Oh, but you don't have to do all of that," Maki said hurriedly, worried she had blown her chances.  "Really, I'd be okay with anything, as long as I got to be on the show!"

"Oh no, you're doing fine, Harukawa-chan!" Ikehara said as she put her pen down.  "Of course, we'll probably need to change a few things, but I think you have a lot of great ideas that would make for a very exciting character.  That said, I don't think your character would identify _openly_ as the Ultimate Assassin.  Perhaps she should have some sort of cover talent when she's introduced?  Just to preserve the twist, of course - it would almost certainly come up in due time."

"Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense!" said Maki eagerly.  "I was going to mention that earlier but...well, I guess I forgot."

Ikehara smiled.  "Well, you certainly got excited there.  Now then, you've actually answered most of my other questions already...am I right in saying you'd prefer to be a survivor, but would be willing to be a victim or a culprit as long as it was in heroic circumstances?"

Maki nodded.  "Yes, that's right! Oh, but if it's possible, I'd prefer not to be a victim - I'd like to be able to at least be able to defeat my opponent if it came to that.  I'm not sure what my execution would be like, though...oh, I know! I could be dragged down to Hell by my previous victims or something like that!"

"Interesting idea," said Ikehara as she took down some more notes.  "Now, one last question: you said last night that your favorite thing about Danganronpa was bringing hope to people.  Could you tell me what you meant by that?"

"Well..." Maki said, suddenly looking uncertain again.  "I guess...well, sometimes I wonder what everything's all for, you know?  I often feel like I'm just kind of doing what everyone's expecting of me.  You know, go to school, join a club - I'm in drama club, actually - get good grades, graduate, get a job at some company, get married, have kids, raise those kids, die...and to be perfectly honest, I don't think there's anything after that.  Honestly, I just find it kind of depressing.  Plus, in the past I've said and done some things that I think were kind of awful, so...I don't think I can call myself a good person?"

Then Maki's eyes lit back up.  "But Danganronpa has always given me hope! If someone like Mukuro can become a better person, then I think that I can too! And no matter who the survivors of the Killing Game are, even after all their friends have died, they don't give into despair - they find a way to move on! I want to be like that! I want to show the world that we don't have to despair just because the world seems like it's telling us to! I want to find that hope and share it with the world!"

Ikehara started to tear up - Maki's passion appeared to have struck a chord with her.  "Harukawa-chan, I couldn't have said it better myself!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the observation room, Fukumoto studied Maki carefully.

"Ozawa," he said, "I believe we decided that we wanted more inter-student conflict this season, correct?"

Ozawa nodded.  "Yeah, that's right.  I _suppose_ her idea of working with the Mastermind could fall under that..."

He was silent for a moment, then he shook his head.  "But that seems more of a 'Mastermind vs. Students' conflict than 'Students vs. Students' to me, so I think we should go with something else there.  Mind you, the reveal of an Ultimate Assassin among the group would certainly create the tension we're looking for, so I definitely think we should give her that talent."

Fukumoto nodded, then turned to Mukai.  "Well?" he asked her.

Mukai tapped her fingers together for a moment, then said, "Obviously, she'll need a major personality modification - Class A, I think.  She'll almost certainly need a gloomier outlook - she would probably be rather unsympathetic if she had killed dozens of people with a smile on her face.  In fact, if you gave her a rather mundane seeming talent - Ultimate Caregiver, perhaps, or maybe Ultimate Florist - the contrast would serve as a good indicator that there's more to her than meets the eye."

"And her love interest idea?" asked Yumeno.  "Should we include such a plotline for her?"

"Well, I'm willing to leave the specifics here up to the writers," said Sawada (Ozawa scoffed at this, but she paid him no mind), "but personally, I think that she'd work well with a love interest, though I'll confess I see her paired more with a boy than a girl, though - I think our male audience generally responds positively to girls like that, and it would help if they could project themselves into whoever she ends up falling for.  Then again, she might be more suited for a secondary pairing than a pairing with the main male protagonist...well, I suppose we'll need to wait until we have everyone picked before we can make a final decision!"

"So, we're all in favor of Maki Harukawa as the Ultimate Assassin?" Fukumoto asked the room at large.

Everyone nodded.

"Excellent!" he said, standing up.  "Well then, I think I'll go down and congratulate her!"

* * *

"And just sign there...and you're done!" said Ikehara as Maki handed the contract she was signing back to her.  "So, if you're selected - and I don't see why you wouldn't be - we'll contact you in about a month, and then we can-"

Suddenly, a door opened behind them.  Ikehara turned around, and when she saw who it was, she immediately stood up and bowed.

"Fukumoto-san! What brings you here?"

Maki, having turned and seen that Kichiro Fukumoto himself was indeed striding right toward them, hastily bowed as well.

"Well done, Harukawa-san!" he said with a smile.  "You've shown more passion for Danganronpa than almost every other applicant I've seen in my time at the company, and I assure you, that's no small feat!"

Maki flushed with pride.  "Th-thank you, Fukumoto-san! You're too kind!"

"Nonsense! You completely deserve this!" said the CEO.  "You may have only been the first audition of the season, but I think the others will have a difficult time measuring up to you.  Now then, how about a photo to commemorate the occasion?"

Maki blinked.  "Wi-with you, sir?"

"Who else would it be with?"

"Oh, um..."

She had wanted to say "with Junko", but she knew that whoever the actress playing her was, she was probably too busy doing photo shoots or something like that to talk to her.  Still, she couldn't deny that part of her had really been hoping that she would get to meet her again.  Oh well...

Ikehara took out a camera she had apparently been keeping behind the desk (wait, why did she have a camera ready if she hadn't expected Fukumoto to come in?) and Fukumoto drew Maki close to him.

 _Well_ , Maki thought to herself, _might as well take what I can get_.  So she gave the biggest smile she could imagine and flashed a "V" sign, and in no time at all, they were done.

"Watch out for this girl," Fukumoto said to Ikehara, who laughed.  "She means business!"

If Maki was blushing before, she was beet-red now.

"Now then, you will find the exit over there, which will lead back into the lobby," Fukumoto told her.  "You are free to collect your things and take the train home if you wish, but if you wish to stay for the remainder of the auditions, you are more than welcome to do so."

'Oh, I think I'll stay," Maki said eagerly.  "There's a lot I still want to do here."

Fukumoto chuckled.  "Of course, of course.  Well then, I'll leave you to it.  Good luck to you in all your future endeavors, and I look forward to seeing more of you in the very near future!"

"Thank you very much, Fukumoto-san!" said Maki.  And with that, she turned and left the audition room.  Once she was out the door, she finally let out all of the excitement she had been holding in.  She could hardly believe it - after years of watching the show, writing fanfiction and going to cons, she was finally going to be on Danganronpa.

 _This is real,_ she told herself.  _This is a real moment.  I get to be the Ultimate Assassin_.

If the world ended at the end of that year, Maki Harukawa wouldn't have cared - as far as she was concerned, she would have already reached the peak of her life by then.

* * *

"You know, I think I would make a pretty good Mastermind," said Miu's sister.  "I've always thought I could do a pretty good Junko impression.  Shame they stopped taking applicants for that."

"Oh, and I guess I would be your Mukuro, then?" muttered Miu.

"Eh, I don't know about that; you're not really the Ultimate Soldier type.  You might do 'Ultimate Minion' pretty well, though."

_I'm sorry, WHAT?_

"What was the name of the girl who they said would be the Mastermind, again?" her sister asked.

"Ryoko Itonashi," said Akane.  "Last season's Ultimate Actress."

"Huh.  Why'd they give it to someone like that?"

_Yeah, fuck this._

"Um, it's _obviously_ a reference to _Danganronpa/Zero_ \- you know the prequel novels to the first game?" Miu said angrily as she turned to her sister.  "In those books, Junko Enoshima erased her memories and took on the name 'Ryoko _O_ tonashi'.  That, plus the 'Ultimate Actress' talent was _clearly_ supposed to hint that there was more to her than it first appeared - it _obviously_ isn't her real name, after all.  A lot of people thought she would be the Mastermind, but _I_ noticed that the since the Ultimate Conductor had been acting strangely in places, it was probably her - they probably put in 'Itonashi' as red herring for a viewers, and so that she would be ready when it came time for her to be the Mastermind of _this_ season.  And I was _right_.  You'd know all of this if you had _bothered_ to pay attention! Why are you even here if you don't even care about the fucking series?"

Miu's sister looked taken aback by this.  "W-well...look, I'm not one of those people who obsesses over minor details like that! I just like watching the show, that's all! And I came here for _you_ , Miu."

"Okay, you know what?  _Fuck y-"_

"Applicant 002!" came the announcement.  "Miu Akamatsu!"

"Well, that's your cue, sis!" said Kaede, giving Miu at slap on the back.  "Get out there and show the world what the Akamatsu sisters are made of!"

For a brief moment, Miu wanted to refuse - to turn around and take the next train home, no matter what Kaede said.  This was her last chance - there would be no turning back after this.

But...if she did that...

 _Forget about her right now_ , Miu said as she marched towards the security guard.  _This is your moment, and there's no way you'e going to let Kaede take it away from you!_

* * *

_???????? Theater_

_Sis asks me when the last time I went to one of the meetings was.  I tell her I'm fine - I haven't had a drop since January._

_She tells me that she believes me, but she also caught me staring at the liquor store window as we were walking home from the movie on Friday._

_I ask her if I can't have a moment's peace - am I not allowed to go a minute without even thinking about the idea of drinking?_

_She takes my hand and tells me that she knows that it's hard - really, she knows - but she really is worried about me, and that if I go back to it, I'm probably never going to stop.  She reminds me that we learned that the hard way._

_"_ _Please," she says to me.  "Go.  Talking to people helps you - we know it does."_

_I don't like it when she begs me like this._

_And I **hate**_ _it when she's right._

_But then I remember what it was like before she started living here with me, and I fold._

_"Fuckalrightokay."_

_Let's see how long_ this _time lasts for._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaede: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNgxyL5zEAk
> 
> The idea of Kaede's sister - if she even really exists - being another of the students was one that intrigued me, and since Miu looks the most like her, I figured I'd use her for it (though to be fair, I _did _get the idea off of something I saw on TV Tropes). We'll get more into their characters and dynamic next time.__
> 
> I've had the idea of a Danganronpa/Zero Escape crossover for awhile now, and I still like the idea of making some sort of story tying the two together - but that's more of a future story. For now, enjoy this Akane Kurashiki cameo! I'll probably have more such cameos in the future, to fill out background applicants.
> 
> To be clear, I'm not trying to make fun of Maki with her Mukuro fangirling - at most, I merely thought her sheer enthusiasm was worth a few chuckles. But I consider such enthusiasm a virtue, not a fault - God knows that that I've had my share of fanboy moments, though not to this extent.
> 
> Certainly, I don't believe that Maki _deserves_ what's about to happen.
> 
> Anyway, sorry for rambling a bit there - I just wanted to make sure I didn't give the wrong impression.
> 
> Please leave a comment below and tell me what you think!


	4. Don't Start Believing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up - there will be a rather unpleasant scene in this chapter. Nothing graphic, mind you, but there is some misogynistic douchebaggery. Perhaps some of you won't find it bad enough to merit a warning, but as I found it rather unpleasant to write, I thought it'd be best to give one anyway. If that sort of thing upsets you...well, now you know in advance.
> 
> Anyway, without further ado...

**Auditions – Day 1, cont.**

Maki’s mouth was watering as she rushed towards an empty seat in the dining hall, her plate heaped with waffles.  She had been so nervous earlier about having to audition first that she hadn’t bothered to eat anything, worried that she might get sick.  Almost as soon as she had finished, however, her stomach had started growling, going as far to attract stares from some of the applicants, so she had made a bee-line to the dining hall to sate her appetite.

Once she sat down, she immediately began to cut up her waffles, and in no time at all, she was practically wolfing them down.  She had already started on her second when she heard someone laugh nervously nearby.

“Wow, you must really be hungry,” said a boy who slid into the seat across from hers.  He seemed rather thin, which, combined with his pale skin, made him look almost sickly.  He had dark hair, but most of it was hidden by a black cap that was angled in a way cover up one of his eyes as well.  The one eye that Maki could see darted around somewhat, never making contact with her own.

“Um…” Maki said as she swallowed her current mouthful of waffle, “I’m sorry, but…who are you?  You look kind of familiar.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” the thin boy said, looking rather flustered.  “My name’s Shuichi Saihara – I think we go to the same school? We’ve never spoken, but…”

Maki’s brow furrowed a moment, carefully looking him over.  Now that he mentioned it…

“Oh, right!” she exclaimed.  “Yeah, I’ve seen you around.  I think I heard some people say your uncle’s a detective?”

Saihara nodded, looking relieved.  “Yeah, that’s right.  Sorry if I’m being too forward – I just...I guess I needed a familiar face or something.”

“Oh no, I understand,” said Maki with a smile.  “I don’t know anybody here either.  It’s funny, though – everyone else seems to know who _I_ am.”

Indeed, when she had crossed the lobby to get to dining hall, there had been a fair amount of applause when she was spotted, with several cheers of “Go, Haru-chan!” for added measure.  She had done her best to smile proudly, while quickening her pace all the same.  It wasn’t that she _hated_ the attention – although she would have preferred a more discreet exit – but if this was how it was going to be over just the next few days...well, as big a fan of Danganronpa as she was, she wondered if she would have even considered applying if she hadn’t known that she wouldn’t be conscious of all the attention she’d be receiving.

Saihara laughed again, somewhat more confidently this time.  “Well, I can’t say I’m shocked – you really made an impression last night.”

Maki started to laugh as well.  “Yeah, I guess!”

Then, slowly, her laughter faded as a thought dawned on her.  “Um…Saihara-kun…is that why you’re here?”

Saihara looked up, alarmed.  “Um…w-well, it’s not like I planned out m-meeting you here…” he stammered.  “I had, um…already planned on coming down here later – you s-see, my number is, um, 154, so I had, um…well, I thought it was pretty obvious that I wouldn’t be going today, you know? I mean, since there were 600 of us, it made sense to, um, divide us evenly?  So I f-figured…well, it seemed like almost everyone was get breakfast right away, and since I d-didn’t have anything I needed to do today…well, why not wait until everyone else has already, well, eaten, and that way the d-dining hall won’t be so, you know, crowded…?”

Maki just sat there, staring at him.  “Saihara…” she warned.

Saihara closed his eyes and sighed.  “Okay, okay…I _had_ recognized you from school last night, but I didn’t put two and two together until this morning.  So when I saw you here, I figured, “Hey, I know her – maybe she’ll be willing to give me some advice”…Look, if you want me to, I’ll leave...”

“No, it’s…it’s fine,” said Maki resignedly.  She supposed she was going to have to get used to stuff like this – it might be nice to have a friend (okay, someone she previously only been acquainted with – _barely_ – on sight, but that was close enough, right?) around to keep her company.

“Oh, really?” said Saihara, brightening up.  “Thank you _so_ much! Can you tell me what they said to you?  Did they say what they were looking for?  Did you have to take a test or something?  Was Junko there?  How many-?”

“Okay, slow down a bit!” she told him.   _Well, I guess I asked for this_.

“Sorry.  Seriously, though, what was it like?”

“Honestly, I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you much – something about wanting the applicants to come in with as little preparation as possible?”

“Oh,” said Saihara, glancing down at the table.  “Yeah, that makes sense.”

He looked back up at her.  “But you got in, right?  Surely you can talk about that!”

Maki smiled.  Well, she supposed a bit of bragging wouldn’t hurt.

“Yeah, I got in,” she told him.  “They took my picture and everything.  They seemed really excited.”

Saihara gazed upon her in awe.  “That’s so cool,” he whispered.

“Thanks.  Oh, but please don’t tell anyone I told you this – I don’t want to risk getting in trouble.”

Saihara smiled at her.  “Don’t worry – your secret’s safe with me.”

“Um, excuse me?” said a timid voice.  “You two don’t mind if I sit next to you, do you?  I could use some company.”

The two of them turned to see a tall girl with glasses and long, cerulean hair looking at them uncertainly.  She had a food tray with her, although she had curiously little on it – only a few pieces of fruit and a single piece of toast.

“I’m fine with it if Harukawa-san’s fine with it,” said Saihara, looking obliquely at Maki, who nodded.

“Yes, that’s alright,” said Maki.   _God, this is going to turn into the Nerdy Introverts Club, isn’t it?_

“Oh, thank you very much!” said the girl, eagerly taking a seat next to Maki.  “I’m in the late 200s, you see, so I don’t go until…Wednesday, I think?  Yes, I think that’s right.  Oh, I can hardly think of anything to do… It’s awfully difficult, isn’t it - you know, not knowing anybody here?”

The girl sighed, but then started giggling.  “Of course, here that might be a benefit, don’t you think?”

“Um…yeah, I guess,” said Saihara, not seeming sure what to think of her.  “Oh, by the way, I’m Shuichi Saihara, and this is-”

“Oh, of course I know who Haru-chan is!” the girl said excitedly.  “I doubt there’s a single person here who doesn’t know her name!”

“Um, I see,” said Maki, somewhat perturbed that “Haru-chan” was apparently a universally agreed upon nickname all of the sudden.  “T-thanks, I guess.  And you are?”

“Oh, where are my manners?” said the girl, blushing.  “I got so excited meeting you that I forgot to introduce myself.  I suppose that isn’t _that_ surprising, though – a future Danganronpa contestant like you is a lot more interesting than a plain, boring girl like me.”

She suddenly looked Maki straight in the eyes, and suddenly Maki gasped, although she wasn’t sure why.  There was something almost…hypnotic about the girl; like she was born to be the star of the show.  And she looked strangely familiar…like Maki had seen her before, not too long ago…

Then the girl averted her eyes, and Maki suddenly felt normal again.  She shook her head, unsure what to make of what just happened.  Did she imagine it, or did that girl, just for a moment, seem like…

“My name is Tsumugi Shirogane,” she said softly, but with a small smile and an unmistakable note of pride.  “Please remember that.”

* * *

“I think she has potential, don’t you?” asked Kagawa as they all watched Miu Akamatsu hastily exit the audition room.  “She certainly seem like she could be popular, if we played our cards right.”

Sawada nodded.  “Oh yes, absolutely! Obviously, she’ll need some major adjustments – I’m guessing that what we saw wasn’t exactly typical for her – but I see the makings of an audience favorite here! I’d say that outburst alone has quite a bit of potential, wouldn’t you, Ozawa-san?”

“Don’t try to force anyone on me” said Ozawa, stroking his chin.  “I’ll admit, though, I do see a few angles we could take with her…”

“Yes…I think I’ve taken a liking to her as well,” said Fukumoto.  “Now tell me, Idabashi – I presume you can handle her talent, yes?”

Idabashi adjusted his glasses to read through the notes he had taken after Miu had gone on about her talent - while she had been brief about it, he had wrote down everything that he thought it might entail.

“Hm…yes, I believe I can manage that sort of thing.  Ultimates like her can be tricky sometimes, as it can be difficult to take everything about their talents into account, but I think we’ve seen enough like her to handle things easily – I do have algorithms for this sort of thing, after all.”

“I’m more curious why Yumeno-san had Ikehara ask the question she did,” said Mukai.

“Oh, don’t tell me it didn’t cross your mind,” Yumeno said with a smirk.

“Well…perhaps it did,” Mukai admitted hesitantly, “but that wasn’t something I’d normally ask.  And won’t that create the wrong impression?”

“Hardly – everyone else will be operating under that impression as well,” responded Yumeno.  “And while I’m not responsible for the writing, I thought it might open up some interesting avenues.”

“Well then, while we’ll obviously make our final decision later,” said Fukumoto, feeling that they had more-or-less had a consensus, “and I’d like to wait until the sister before I commit, I think we’ve got a winner on our hands.”

“Two in a row!” commented Sawada.  “You don’t think we’ll be able to fill all the slots in one day, do you?”

“We are still legally obligated to review all of the applications,” said Yumeno.

“Besides,” said Ozawa as he leaned back in his chair, “in my experience, two in a row means that we’re about to have a _whole_ lot of stinkers.”

* * *

“Alright, let’s see how you like thi-GAH!”

Tenko Chabashira smirked as her opponent landed flat on her back, stunned.

“That wasn’t too bad,” she said, bending down next to the girl.  “But Tenko doesn’t think that trying the same moves over and over again will help you win against her.”

Her opponent, a girl with a light-brown bowl cut who wore a green and yellow jacket over her top, scowled.

“W-well…I’m better at kick-boxing,” she said as she scrambled to her feet.  “Besides, you barely even gave me a shot at fighting back!”

“What, do you think people are going to give you a shot in the game?” asked Tenko.  “You shouldn’t expect people to fight fair!”

“I mean…sure, I guess,” said the girl, who blushed and stared at the ground.  “And…your throws _are_ pretty good.”

“Well, Tenko tries,” said Tenko, grinning cockily as pride welled inside of her.  “And she’s kicked a _lot_ of ass, too, so she thinks she knows what she’s doing.”

For a moment, neither of them said anything, but then Tenko, blushing, asked “So, um, do you…want to try again?”

The brown-haired girl nodded eagerly.  “Oh! Yeah, that sounds-”

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” said the girl’s companion, a refined looking girl with long black hair and a red sweater, “but I believe our auditions will be taking place soon.”

She led the brown-haired girl off, shooting a glare at Tenko in the process, and Tenko could hear them bickering as they left the gym.

“If nothing else, could you at least consider my feelings when you’re out with me?”

“Look, I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t get to meet many other girls that can fight.”

“You could always teach _me_ to fight, if you want to do it so badly.”

“No offense, but you don’t really have a lot of muscle on you.”

“I’ll have you know that-”

Tenko sighed.  It seemed like every time she tried to impress a girl, they either got scared off or were already with someone.  Maybe she was too intimidating?  True, she had gained the reputation of being a delinquent over the past couple of years, but it’s not like she was trying to break the law or anything – she just wanted people to know not to mess with her, and if that meant being a bit rough and foul-mouthed…well, she didn’t see what was wrong with that.  Sure, she did probably hit a few those guys too hard, but that was when she was young – she didn’t know what she was doing back then! Now she had much more self-control.  She didn’t need a stupid _boy_ to protect her – she had done just fine on her own! And sure, she _did_ probably hit a few those guys too hard, but that was when she was-

“ _Damn_.”

Speaking of which…

Tenko turned around to see a tall boy with spiked purple hair and a short goatee by the gym door.  Grinning, he walked over to her, eyeing her with interest.

“I saw you back there – pretty nice moves,” he said.  “Name’s Kaito Momota – you?”

“Tenko Chabashira,” she told him, taking a step back.  She wasn’t sure what to think of this guy – he gave off a feeling that was fairly familiar to Tenko, like he had something to prove.  And in Tenko’s experience, guys like that didn’t take much to turn into assholes.

“Hey, relax, I don’t bite,” he told her.  “I was just thinking, you’re pretty good for-”

“You’re gonna say ‘for a girl’, aren’t you?” interrupted Tenko.  Yeah, this guy was practically checking off the list of her red flags.

“I, um...what? No!” said Momota, obviously having been thrown off his game.  “I was going to say, you know…for someone your size!”

 _You fucking liar_.

“Tenko’s not _that_ short,” she told him.  “And anyway, the other girl was shorter than her, so she doesn’t think it’s _that_ impressive.”

“Well…I mean, yeah, I guess…Hey, aren’t we not allowed to fight here?” Momota asked in a valiant attempt to change the subject.  “How’d you get away with that earlier?”

Tenko jerked her thumb towards sign posted on the wall behind her.

**Notice**

**Applicants are allowed to engage in friendly, consensual sparring while inside the gymnasium, as long as no lasting injuries* result from such activities.**

***Team Danganronpa is not liable for any injuries, permanent or otherwise, that are incurred on/through the use of Team Danganronpa property.**

“Ah,” said Momota.  “That explains it.”

He studied her for a moment, then smirked.  “Hey, I have an idea – why not try your luck against me?  I might be a bit tougher than your other opponents – probably won’t break as easily, for one thing.”

“Tenko usually prefers to spar with other girls,” she told Momota coldly.  “And she is _always_ as gentle as possible with them.”

 _Plus, they don’t flip out if they_ lose _to a girl…_

“Yeah, well you won’t have to be so gentle with me!” said Momota, growing irritated.  “C’mon, I can take whatever you’ve got!  You want to do this or what?”

Tenko was honestly tempted to say no at this point – she didn’t like it when guys got demanding like this.  But she had to admit, she _did_ enjoy taking the wind out of their sails.  And Momota was _so_ convinced that he’d win, she could tell that much…he deserved to know how wrong he was.

“You sure that’s fair?” she asked him.  “You _are_ a pretty big guy…”

Momota grinned.  “Hey, don’t worry – it can just be for one round.  And if you need me to, I’ll take it easy on you.”

“Alright then,” Tenko said, taking a fighting stance.  “Make it a three count?”

“That’s fine by me,” said Momota as he took a stance as well.

“Then Tenko’s ready to go when you are.”

They both slowly circled each other for a moment, then Momota suddenly made to lunge at Tenko with a blow that, while rather light, was clearly still meant to knock her off her feet.  She stepped out of the way with ease, noting that while Momota was clearly strong, he was also clumsy – he was more of a brawler than a martial artist, and not an especially experienced one either.  She dodged a few more times, deciding to let him sweat while she waited for the perfect opportunity.  Eventually, he got frustrated, rushing at her with a yell, and she saw what she was looking for.  She swiftly moved to the side and grabbed his wrist.  As he grunted in pain, she then almost casually threw him off his feet, swiftly pinning him to the ground.

“And that’s one…two…three!” Tenko counted off with just a hint of smugness in her voice.  “That’s the round, Momota-kun.”

Momota glared at her, gritting his teeth in anger.  As Tenko got off of him, however, his expression changed – he look almost…ashamed?

_Maybe…maybe he isn’t such a bad guy?_

“Hey it’s alright,” she said to him, her voice softening.  “Everyone loses some time or another.  Tenko’s lost plenty of times before.”

She extended a hand to him.

“Wanna go another round?  Tenko can give you some pointers.”

Momota hesitated for a moment, then sat up.

“Sure.”

Then, just when Tenko thought he was about to take her hand, he suddenly launched a kick at her feet.  Tenko, not expecting this at all, was sent sprawling.

“One, two, three,” he said, smirking at her.  “Looks like I win.”

“What the…WHAT THE _FUCK_ WAS THAT FOR, ASSHOLE?!” Tenko screamed at him.  “YOU THINK THAT’S _FUNNY_?!”

Momota just glared at her for a moment, then turned away.

“Forget it, this isn’t fun anymore,” he said in disgust.  “That’s what I get for challenging a girl to a fight.”

Having said that, he simply walked out of the gym.  Tenko just sat there, in shock.  Once he had left, she slowly got to her feet, walked over to the nearest wall, and started punching it in anger.

“YOU! FUCKING! IDIOT!” she shouted, punctuating each word with a punch.  “THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR TRUSTING A STUPID! GROSS! DEGENERATE! MALE! _PIG!_ ”

She sank to her knees, sobbing.  Fortunately, her tears came quickly – it meant that she’d be able to get them out of the way sooner than later.  When she held them in, it just made it worse later on.

Suddenly, she heard a noise behind her.  She quickly turned around to see a short girl with red hair watching her nervously near the gym door.

“Oh, hey!” said Tenko, quickly drying her tears.  “Listen, I’m sorry about all of that, I was just-”

The girl jumped in shock, then quickly ran out of the room.

Damn it, she just wanted to apologize.  Why did this have to keep happening?

She sighed, slowly picking herself up off the floor.  She had finished crying, at least – if there was one thing that she was thankful for, it’s that once she started crying, it didn’t take long for her to finish.

She stood there for a moment, then, remembering that she didn’t have to audition until the next day, came to a decision.

 _Fuck it,_ she thought to herself _, I’m gonna go to my room and take a nap._

* * *

“Damn it! Why won’t she pick up?” Kaede said as she paced back and forth, dialing Miu’s number for the fourth time in the last five minutes.  “You haven’t had any luck, have you?”

Akane shook her head.  “Nothing.  Look, why not just leave her be for now?  She can take care of herself, can’t she?”

“Are you kidding?” Kaede asked incredulously.  “In a place this big?  I can’t let her just go off by herself – she could get lost or someone could attack her or something!”

“Well, I suppose there are a quite a few possible timelines where things could go horribly wrong…”

“Oh God, not this agai-”

“Applicant 076!” came the announcement.  “Kaede Akamatsu!”

“Oh, has it been that long already?” asked Akane.

Kaede sighed.  “Guess I’d better head in.  Listen, you keep trying to reach her, and when I get back, we can go look for her.”

Akane shrugged.  “Well, alright – I suppose I don’t have anything better to do.  Knock ‘em dead.”

Kaede nodded.  She took a deep breath, then walked over to the security guard, presented her ticket, and walked through the door.

* * *

The auditions had been going on for six and a half hours by this point, so the department heads had requested food to be brought to the observation room several times.  Of course, food did only so much to alleviate the drudge of having to sit through over 70 auditions that ranged from passable to just plain unwatchable.

“So…” said Ozawa, speaking between bites of sushi.  “…Have _any_ of the past forty or so stood out to any of you?”

There was silence for exactly thirty-two seconds, and then Mukai spoke up.

“I…thought the boy who wanted to be the Ultimate Historian seemed somewhat interesting…”

“He _is_ a possibility,” said Kagawa.  “Certainly, he’s better than whatever that boy talking about goats was trying to sell us on.  Quite frankly, though, I thought he was rather dull when it came down to it.  If he’s the best we can expect from here on out, then I fear we will have quite disappointing returns this season, and right now that is something we cannot afford.”

Sawada laughed.  “Oh, come on – I think you underestimate the appeal that Kiibo will bring.  Social media is abuzz with the possibilities, let me tell you.”

“A gimmick can only go so far,” said Ozawa.  “Without a strong core cast, we won’t be able to-”

Yumeno cleared her throat.  “Onto the next applicant…” she said pointedly.

“Ah yes!” said Fukumoto.  “The other Akamatsu sister.  I’ve been waiting for this one.”

Everyone sat up as they watched a confident-looking girl with shoulder-length blonde hair walk into the room.

“Good afternoon,” said Goro Hagiwara, who had relieved Ikehara after the 60th audition.  A tall boy with wild red hair, Hagiwara exuded quite a bit of energy, though that energy didn’t always correlate with intelligence.  “My name’s Goro Hagiwara, and I’ll be interviewing you today.  Can I get you to state your name and ticket number for the camera?”

“Sure!” said the girl.  “Kaede Akamatsu, 076.”

Hagiwara jotted this down, and then opened his mouth to ask Akamatsu a question, but she interrupted him.

“Um…before we start, can I ask you something?  My sister auditioned second today, but I haven’t seen her at all since she finished.  Did she by any chance say where she was going?”

Hagiwara looked inquisitively over towards the observation room window.  Mukai pressed the button at the base of her microphone and said, “She did not, no.”

“Sorry, I don’t believe she did,” answered Hagiwara.  “I’m sure she’s fine, though – I mean, we’re not about to let any harm come to our guests! You can’t have a Killing Game if nobody’s there to play, after all!”

He gave a loud, somewhat forced sounding laugh.  Akamatsu attempted to join in, but it seemed half-hearted.

“Watch what you say, Hagiwara,” he heard Yumeno’s voice speak into his ear.

Hagiwara nodded nervously, and pressed on.

“So, Akamatsu-san…what do you like about Danganronpa?  What drove you to audition in the first place?”

“Oh, well, I’m not _that_ big a fan of the show,” said Akamatsu.  “I’m really more of a casual fan.  Miu – my sister, of course, you already interviewed her – she’s the big fan, knows all the details.  I mean, I still love the show, but I don’t get in deep with it as so many other people do.”

“Really? Interesting…” said Hagiwara as he scribbled down notes.  “But you still decided to audition?”

“Well, you know…my sister had already decided to audition, so I figured I’d do it to,” she said, looking sheepish.  “I figured that she got picked, I _definitely_ would – I think I made a pretty good case for myself in the original application form.”

“So, are you saying that you’d only want to be on the show if your sister made it on?”

“What?  Oh no, not at all!” Akamatsu said as she shook her head furiously.  “Actually, between you and me, I think I’m perfect for a killing game.  I don’t have any faith in humanity.”

Hagiwara leaned forward.  “Really? Why’s that?”

“Well, I…” Akamatsu suddenly look uneasy.  “Well, think about it! Situations like the killing game always seem to bring out the worst in people, don’t they?  The second their backs are against the wall, they’ll do anything to get out of it, even kill someone! I mean, _sure,_ at the end everything’s all hopeful, but the people who are left are just a small percentage – everyone else either got murdered or committed murder! If you try to see the best in people, you’re going to be disappointed – that’s just a fact of life.”

She beamed at him.  “So I do the opposite – I always think the worst of people.  If I’m wrong, then I get to be pleasantly surprised, but if I’m right…well, no harm, no foul! Hell, sometimes it’ll save your life – like in a killing game! Really, though, I think you should probably just have low expectations in general – most people don’t really amount to anything.  You should just take what you can get when you can get it.”

Hagiwara scribbled down more notes.  “I see…got it all figured out, huh?”

“Right! You can’t trust anybody but yourself!”

“Hagiwara,” said Fukumoto, “ask her if she feels the same way about her sister.”

Hagiwara did as Fukumoto asked, and Akamatsu began to look uneasy again.

“I mean…Miu’s my sister, and all – of _course_ I _care_ about her.  But she’s honestly kind of…well, I guess ‘incompetent’ is the word?  So no, I don’t really have any faith in her.  I mean, you people met her earlier – could _you_?”

“Hagiwara,” said Yumeno, “I want you to ask her – and please use these exact words – if both she and her sister were on this season, would she be scared of her sister?”

Hagiwara repeated the question, and Akamatsu looked shocked.

“W-what?  No, gosh, why would I be scared of _Miu_?  I mean, sure, she’s kind of shitty at a lot of stuff, but killing is definitely one of those things – she couldn’t hurt a fly!”

“Maybe,” said Hagiwara, “but people are rarely the exact same person in the game as they are in real life.”

“Well, sure, but…what kind of questions are these?!” Akamatsu shouted, glaring at Hagiwara. “Are you saying that you’re going to turn Miu into a murderer?!”

(“No further questions, Your Honor,” Yumeno said under her breath.)

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, nobody said anything like that!” Hagiwara said, holding up with hands defensively.  “We just want to get a good idea of what your relationship with your sister is like.”

Akamatsu was still glaring at him, but she appeared to calm down somewhat.

“O-okay,” she said.  “But…does all this mean she’ll be in the game?”

“We haven’t made any final decisions yet,” the interviewer informed her.  “And in any case, I’m not allowed to tell you the results of anyone else’s audition.”

“Alright, but…” Akamatsu hesitated briefly, but then continued.  “If she’s in the game, then I want to be in the game too! And if possible, I want my character to be her character’s sister as well! I just…I want to make sure she’s alright.  I know she won’t mind that…”

Hagiwara nodded.  “That’s very noble of you, Akamatsu-san.  Now then…what do you want your Ultimate Talent to be?”

“Oh! Well…truth be told, I didn’t put all that much thought into it,” she admitted.  “That said…I’m pretty good at tennis, and I’ve loved playing the piano ever since my mom first showed me how! I’m good with either of those, if they’re available.”

“Alright, great!” said Hagiwara, taking more notes.  “Now then, last question…what role do you see yourself in?”

“Oh, I want to survive the whole thing!” Kaede told him.  “Like I said before, I don’t trust anybody – I think I could survive pretty easily like that.  And of course, if Miu makes it, I want her to survive with me – I couldn’t just leave her alone, after all!”

Hagiwara nodded.  “Alright, thank you very much, Akamatsu-san.  If you’ll just sign this contract, you’ll be free to go.”

Akamatsu walked forward and signed the contract.

“Thank you very much for this opportunity,” she told him.  “If you put me in, I promise I won’t let you guys down!”

Hagiwara laughed.  “I’m sure you’d give us one hell of a show! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you find your sister.”

As Akamatsu left, Idabashi let out a sigh.

“Well, that was…illuminating,” he said, deep in thought.

“Oh yes, it was very informative,” said Mukai.  “I can see why her sister’s like that.”

“Well, do you all understand my reasoning now?” asked Yumeno with a smirk on her face.

Ozawa nodded.  “Yes, but we have no guarantee things will go that way.  We haven’t even nailed down their characters yet.”

“Even so,” said Kagawa, “if executed properly, the drama here could make us millions.   _Everyone_ would be talking about it.”

“That may be true,” said Fukumoto, “but I believe we agreed that pre-existing relations in the game were a bad idea?”

The room fell silent.  It was true – they had discussed in the past that such relationships either tended to fizzle out early on when one or both of the characters was killed off, or they ended up taking over the narrative at the expense of all other plotlines.

“Oh, we don’t have to worry about that right now,” piped up Sawada.  “I’m more interested in Akamatsu herself! The pragmatic outlook always generates interest – granted, I’ve observed that it’s more popular in male characters than in female characters, but I think she has the charisma to pull it off.  That said…well, I’ll be honest, she doesn’t really have the look of such a character – I think we need someone more foreboding for that role.  Like Celestia Ludenberg, you know?”

“Well, I’ll agree she’s promising, if nothing else,” said Fukumoto.  “And that’s a damn sight better than almost everyone else we’ve had today.  Now, let’s move on, shall we?”

* * *

Tsumugi closely studied Harukawa as they walked through the Team Danganronpa shopping center.  The future Ultimate Assassin was chatting animatedly with Saihara, discussing their favorite characters and seasons of Danganronpa – it was all very informative, and after having spent practically the whole day with them, Tsumugi felt like she was getting a fairly decent insight into both of them.  However, she couldn’t help noticing that Harukawa didn’t seem to be paying her much attention.  She had somewhat expected this – even disregarding that she was deliberately not drawing much attention to herself, she wasn’t all that remarkable to begin with – but was she imagining it, or did Harukawa seem…intimidated by her?

“I mean, I’m _glad_ Kirigiri survived,” said Saihara as they passed a display for Monokuma-themed recording devices disguised as pens (" _Catch the culprit’s confession without them being any the wiser!”_ ), “but it’s such an afterthought that I kind of feel like if she wasn’t going to be involved in the finale, she should have just stayed dead.”

“I get what you’re saying, but I think I would have been disappointed if she had died that way,” said Harukawa.  “I mean, I’m not saying it wasn’t _meaningful_ , but I feel like it wasn’t climatic enough.  The way I see it, either she goes out like a badass, or not at all.”

Saihara shrugged.  “I guess that’s fair.  Still, I think that part was underwhelming.  What do you think, Shirogane?”

“What? Oh, um…” Tsumugi hesitated, unsure of what to say, before deciding that honestly would probably be the best policy here.  “Well, I do think that it could have worked better, but at the end of the day, I’d rather have Kirigiri-chan alive than dead.  I think it’d put a major downer on things if she hadn’t survived – after all, wasn’t the entire point of the ending of hope triumphing over despair?  I don’t think you could do that if she was dead – poor Naegi-kun would have had that hanging over him for the rest of his life…”

Saihara nodded.  “True.  I guess Mitarai’s video could have helped with that, but that’s probably not something you ought to use more than necessary.  Still, of all the things they changed with the New Hope Cut, you’d think they could have at least fixed the stuff with Kirigiri too…”

Saihara went on, but Tsumugi didn’t pay much attention to him, instead turning to Harukawa.  While she was usually content just listening to others, actually being in the presence of someone that she knew would be on the show was enough to make her want more.  Hopefully, talking to her for a bit would cause her to open up more.

“I’ll be honest, though,” she said to Harukawa, “the Hope’s Peak Saga’s great, but it isn’t my favorite.  Personally, I’ve always loved the period from the 18th to the 25th season, but if we’re talking seasons that still involved members of the original creative team, then it has to be Seasons 6 and 8, right?”

“Wait, you like those too?” Harukawa said, her eyes lighting up.  “ _Finally_ , someone else who gets it! They’re so underappreciated, aren’t they?”

“I _know_ , right?  Especially Season 6! I cried practically all night when I saw the ending.”

“ _Me too!_ ”

“Wait, Season 6?” asked Saihara.  “Didn’t that one end with the survivors having their memories of the killing game erased?  I thought that wasn’t very popular.”

Tsumugi and Harukawa looked at each other incredulously, then looked back at Saihara.

“That’s because people are _stupid!_ ” said Harukawa, annoyance etched across her face.

“Ugh, tell me about it!” said Tsumugi, disgusted.  “The _point_ is that the only way for Hope to survive is for the people of the world to forget about the Killing Game, and that has to include them! Yes, they forget about the bonds they made – Miyake-chan’s final goodbye to Ogata-kun nearly _broke_ me – but that’s why it’s so tragic! It’s like how Season 4’s ending _should_ have gone if they hadn’t chickened out! It was _perfect_ , and anybody who says otherwise is a clueless hack!”

“Yes, _exactly_!” said Harukawa, nodding eagerly.  “I’ve always defended it, but everyone’s made fun of me for it.  And then there’s everyone who thought that Minamoto-chan should have died first in Season 8…”

“Oh my God, _why?_ She was, like, the _coolest_ character in that season.  She _personally_ shredded Monokuma to bits – that was _amazing!_ And she wasn’t a “Mary Sue”, or whatever the Americans call it! She had major flaws that she had to overcome! But _no_ , just because a certain Ultimate Pilot didn’t get the spotlight-”

At this moment, Tsumugi happened to look over at Saihara to see the boy looking completely dumbfounded at the course the conversation had taken.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Saihara-kun!” said Tsumugi.  “I kind of hijacked your talk with Harukawa-chan, didn’t I?”

“Oh no, it’s fine, really!” Saihara said, looking somewhat embarrassed.  “You two seem to have a lot in common – probably more than I would, frankly.  I don’t really get super involved with the fan communities – I mostly just post fan art and stuff on my blog…”

“Still, I wouldn’t want to leave you feeling left out,” Harukawa said with a smile.  “What if tomorrow, we all-”

At that moment, an announcement rang out.

“Auditions have concluded for today.  They will resume tomorrow at 9:30 AM, starting from Ticket Number 121.  Curfew will be at 10 PM – please return to your rooms before then.  Thank you very much, and have a pleasant evening.”

“Wow, this went by faster than I thought it would,” said Saihara.

“Oh dear…I’m sorry, you two, but I really need to be heading back,” said Tsumugi – she needed to make her nightly report.

“Wait, before you go,” said Harukawa hurriedly, “I wanted to ask – how about the three of us meet up again tomorrow?”

“Well…” Tsumugi wasn’t sure how to respond – strictly speaking, she was supposed to interact with a variety of applicants while undercover – she could justify spending the first day with the only confirmed contestant, but more than once probably wouldn’t go over as well.

“I mean, I’d love to,” she said, “but I was kind of hoping that I would get to meet more people – I mean, no offense to you guys, of course!”

“Oh, I could come with you!” Harukawa said eagerly.  “I think I’ve gotten used to people staring at me – as long as I was you guys, I think I’d be fine.  Oh, assuming Saihara-kun wants to come as well!”

Saihara nodded.  “I’d be fine with that.  I’d want to get my audition done first, mind you, but I’m good for anything after that.”

This wasn’t what Tsumugi had anticipated, but she figured it could still work.  In fact, it could even work to her advantage – people might be less inclined to suspect that something was off about her if she was around a consistent group of friends.

“Okay then!” she exclaimed with a smile.  “Thank you very much! I’ll see both of you tomorrow!”

Harukawa smiled as well.  “Great! I’ll be looking forward to it!”

And with that, the three of them bid each other farewell and went their separate ways for the night.  As Tsumugi turned to watch them go, however, she thought she noticed a new spring in Harukawa’s step.

* * *

Miu sat in the room she was sharing with Kaede, playing a portable edition of the first Danganronpa game.  It definitely showed its age at times, but it was still a classic for a reason.  She had just finished a Free-Time Event with Chihiro – gone too soon, that one – when…

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Kaede shouted as she entered the room, carrying an Usami plushie.

“Um…playing video games?” said Miu, holding up her game system to show that she had indeed been doing just that.

“So what, you’ve just been here the entire day?” Kaede asked, furious.  “Akane and I looked everywhere for you, but we couldn’t find you! Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“I had my phone turned off,” Miu told her.  “I just wanted some peace and quiet – that’s why I came up here to begin with.”

“So what, are you saying you haven’t even _eaten_?”

“There was some food up here – they’ve got a pretty well-stocked fridge.  Hell, I was even able to call and order some Chinese food,” Miu said, pointed to an opened box on a nearby table, “although I’m guessing you don’t want any.”

“And…you didn’t think to at least let me know where you _were_?” asked Kaede, still silently fuming.  “Did you have any idea how _worried_ I was?”

Miu rolled her eyes.  “Well, I’m guessing that you weren’t worried enough to forgo your audition.  And it’s not like you thought to look up here to begin with – just couldn’t bring yourself to leave the glory of Danganronpa, huh?”

Of course she did.  She could practically see it – oh, she’d talk a good game about finding her at first, but eventually she’d want to experience as much of Danganronpa as she could, just to make sure that Miu didn’t have an advantage over her.

“I…that’s…well, what about you?” Kaede asked as she nervously placed the Usami plushie on the bed.  “ _You’re_ the diehard fan here – why weren’t _you_ downstairs?”

Miu shrugged.  “Like I said – I just wanted some privacy.  Maybe I’ll go down tomorrow, but the audition was pretty stressful, and I needed to relax.  Besides, I think I prefer enjoying Danganronpa without the crowds.  Maybe that’ll change once I get in, though…”

“What, you really think you’re going to make it in?” Kaede asked, raising an eyebrow.

Miu glared at her.  “I think I’ve got as much a chance as you do.  Why, do you _you’ll_ make it in?”

Kaede shrugged.  “Well, there are so many spots available, so it’s probably not _that_ likely that we’ll get in.  Still, if you get in, I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t,” she said with a wide grin.  “I think I was probably one of the more impressive people they saw today – you should have seen the sort of people who went in.  I heard one of them say that they wanted to be an Ultimate Pillow Fluffer?  Can you believe some of these people?  I doubt they’re taking any of this seriously! Oh, that reminds me – how was your audition?”

“I’m…not allowed to talk about it.”

“Oh, okay – me too, actually.  It’s annoying, but I guess it makes sense.  Anyway, I was thinking – we probably shouldn’t stay up _too_ late, but since we don’t have to be anywhere tomorrow, we don’t need to be up super early either.  I was thinking we could…”

Miu started to tune Kaede out, her mention of the auditions causing memories to spring back up…

* * *

**Earlier**

_Miu felt sweat practically gushing down her face and neck as Ikehara wrote down her name and ticket number._

_“So,” the interviewer said after a moment, “can I ask you what made you decide to audition for this season of Danganronpa?  Are you a fan?”_

_“Oh, um…yeah, big fan!” said Miu, trying to smile as wide as she could.  She couldn’t see what it looked like, but she was worried that it looked more creepy than enthusiastic.  If that was the case, though, Ikehara showed no reaction._

_“I see…and is that all there is to it?”_

_“Um…” Miu stalled, shift her weight from one foot to the other, and then back again.  “Does there, like, need to be?”_

_“Well, we have an enormous number of fans that fall into the age range for participation just in Japan,” answered Ikehara, watching her carefully.  “But it’s not as though each and every one of them applies.  So yeah, I’d say we do generally believe that there’s more to it than just being a fan.”_

_“Well…” said Miu, rocking back and forth on her feet.  This was all…she wasn’t sure if she could say it – wasn’t sure if she_ ought _to say it._

_“I promise you, very few applicants have been rejected purely because of their motives for auditioning,” Ikehara said with a smile.  “I doubt you have anything to worry about, Akamatsu-san.”_

_That was enough – her walls broke down._

_“I want to be an Ultimate!” shouted Miu, a little louder than she had intended._

_Ikehara nodded encouragingly.  “Alright, that’s a pretty common motivation.  Do you think you could tell me-?”_

_“All my life, no one – and I mean_ no one _– has treated me with respect!” Miu went on, unprompted.  “My teachers think I’m stupid, boys think I’m just a pair of tits – or else just some ugly pig – my ‘friends’ think I’m a joke, and my parents think I’m hopeless! It’s always ‘Kaede, help Miu with her homework – she’s not_ smart _enough to do it herself! Miu, you’re too_ clumsy _to carry that – let Kaede help you! Miu, why not let Kaede wear that outfit – she’s_ prettier _than you, after all!’ And she doesn’t make it better! ‘I’ll help you with that game, Miu! I’ll solve that math problem for you, Miu!’ ‘I’ll protect you from those boys, Miu!’ She_ never _lets me do_ anything _by myself, and whenever she does_ her _stuff, I always have to stand aside and leave her alone! ‘Let Kaede practice the piano, Miu!’ ‘Let Kaede get ready for the tennis match, Miu!’ ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET KAEDE HOG THE SPOTLIGHT, MIU!’ Well you know what? FUCK ALL OF YOU, IT’S MY TURN NOW, YOU SHIT-LICKING CUNTS!”_

_Ikehara was momentarily stunned silent by this, having to blink a few times to recover._

_“…I-I see.  Am...I to assume that your sister is also auditioning?”_

_Though her outburst was over, Miu was still clear frustrated._

_“Yeah, that’s right,” she said, folding her arms turning away from Ikehara.  “Of_ course _she couldn’t let me come alone.  We’re_ twins _, after all.  She thinks she’s got it_ all _figured out – probably doesn’t even think that I’ll get in.”_

C’mon _, she thought to herself._ Say it, say it!

 _She took a deep breath, and then looked Ikehara right in the eyes before continuing.  “When I get in – not ‘if’,_ when _– I don’t want to be her sister.  Fuck it, I don’t even want to have the same_ name _as her!  I want to be a gorgeous, incredibly sexy genius who everyone adores, and there’s no_ way _I’m going to be second fiddle to her!”_

_“I see.  Well, that’s definitely something we can do.  And your Ultimate Talent?”_

_“Well, I…”_

_Honestly, she hadn’t really thought about that._

_“Maybe…I don’t know, Ultimate Scientist?”_

_“Mhm…could you be a bit more specific? There are a lot of field in science to choose from, after all.”_

_“Oh, okay…” Miu thought for a moment.  What would be a good idea?  What would make everyone love her?_

_“Wait…would Ultimate Inventor work?  I bet I could invent all sorts of cool shit – it’d be way_ _more useful than whatever stupid shit_ she _comes up with!”_

_Ikehara nodded.  “Okay, that sounds great! I’m sure we could put something like that together.  Now then, is there any particular role you wish to fulfill in the game?  Do you have a preference for being a survivor, culprit, or victim?”_

_Miu scoffed.  “_ Definitely _not a victim – no way I want to go out like a bitch.  I want to_ live _, damn it!”_

“Does that mean you’re okay with being a culprit?”

 _Miu wasn’t sure what to say to that.  Oh, there was something she_ could _say – something she_ wanted _to say – but she didn’t know if she could bring herself to say it.  Was it…really okay to do something like that?_

_“Well, I mean…well, I guess?” she said, shrugging.  “I mean, it’s Danganronpa – shit happens, right?”_

_Ikehara didn’t respond– in fact, it almost seemed like she was still listening to something, though Miu couldn’t hear anything.  Was it coming from the earpiece she was wearing?_

_After a moment, she nodded, and turned her attention back to Miu._

_“Akamatsu-san,” she said gently, leaning forward, “I’m going to be blunt here - do you want to kill your sister?”_

* * *

“Um, Earth to Miu?”

Miu snapped out of her reverie to find Kaede looking down at her.

“As I was saying, they have a bunch of movies streaming,” she said.  “Mind if I put something on?”

Miu just smiled.

“You know what?” she said.  “I’d be perfectly okay with that.”

* * *

_???????? Theater_

_The meeting did not go well._

_Well, okay, that’s not fair – the meeting went just as well as it usually did.  I got up, said my name (which earned a few stares, but nothing I’m not_ way _used to by now), was as vague as possible when I talked about my problems (maybe that’s not helpful, but none of these guys have any business knowing the finer details, as far as I’m concerned), then sat back down.  It’s mind-numbingly dull, but it’s not like this sort of thing is_ supposed _to be fun._

 _No, the awful shit came after, as I was walking home with Sis – these two kids somehow managed to recognize me, asked for my autograph, and wanted to know about what I thought about the newest season (that’s the one that aired recently, not the one they’re currently auditioned for and I should stop thinking about that_ right the fuck now _)._

_I’m not sure how these kids recognized me – I stopped styling my hair that way years ago, and even then, I cut it short these days and wear a baseball cap when I’m out in public.  So are these kids fucking spying on me or some shit?  Yeah, I don’t even want to think about it._

_Anyway, Sis yelled at them and chased them off (I might have exaggerated her reputation, but she really can be that scary when she wants to be) but it didn’t make much of a difference – I had already started to have a panic attack.  The good news is that Sis is prepared for shit like that, and managed to walk me over to a bench where she helped me through some breathing exercises.  After I had recovered, we managed to walk the rest of the way without any further incidents._

_Yeah, I don’t care if it only takes like five minutes to walk between the meeting place and home – we are fucking driving next time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, _that _was a pretty long chapter. I'm not sure if I'll ever have one as long as this again - it'll probably vary depending on how much I want to fit into each one.__
> 
> Anyway, I should probably talk about Kaito for a bit.
> 
> I'll confess, my inspiration for Kaito being...well, a dick mostly stems from his audition tape, although I still use a line or two of his from the main game as well (namely, him saying that he doesn't think that girls should carry weapons). I also wanted to make at least one character an outright jerk to contrast their behavior in game, and I felt that he was the most natural choice (granted, Kaede's a jerk too, but I feel like she's a different kind of jerk).
> 
> Now, I've seen a couple of pre-game Kaito fics where he wasn't a major asshole, and I can respect that approach.
> 
> It's not the one I wanted to take here, however.
> 
> I will say that I do intend go into more detail about why he's like this - I don't intend to excuse his behavior, but I do at least want to make it understandable. Regardless, apologies to any Kaito fans in advance.
> 
> Now then, in lighter news, the characters who Tenko interacts with at the beginning of her segment are also cameos like Akane, but I decided against outright using their names. I think I'd probably be flattering myself if I acted like figuring out their identities was a challenge, but I'll confess that I'm interested in knowing who figured out who they were supposed to be...
> 
> One reference that I _do _think was somewhat obscure - even if the series it comes from is not - was what Tsumugi said when she introduced herself to Maki and Shuichi, but I don't want to say it outright - I'm definitely curious who caught that one. It's not a verbatim quote, but I still think someone could figure it out. All I'll say is that it's from a popular manga.__
> 
> That's all I have to say for now! Please feel free to leave a comment below and tell me what you think


	5. Open Mouth, Insert Foot

**Auditions – Day 2**

“Apologies for not being able to chat with you last night, Kiibo,” said Idabashi as he and Kelsey conducted a variety of systems evaluations.  “Yesterday was simply _exhausting_ – if I didn’t go to bed early, I doubt I would have been able to get up this morning.”

“Oh, that’s quite alright, Father!” said Kiibo.  While he had missed the Professor’s presence at first, he had quickly found himself engrossed in the audition video stream, to the point where he hadn’t even felt the need to talk to anybody. “Did any of yesterday’s contestants catch the department heads’ attention?”

Idabashi sighed.  “Well, that Harukawa girl seemed promising – though we would have given her the spot anyway if she wasn’t a complete disaster – and those Akamatsu sisters have generated quite a bit of attention (though how much of that will ultimately turn out to be merited remains to be seen), but other than that, general consensus seems to be that it was something of a wash.  What about you, Kiibo?  Was there anyone you liked?”

Kiibo beamed.  “Oh, I liked all of them!”

Indeed, Kiibo had paid careful attention to every applicant that had been interviewed.  Granted, that had been his assigned task, and he thought that it was probably easier for an A.I. to maintain that level of concentration for hours on end than it was for a human, but still, he had enjoyed it immensely.  To think, every single one of them was unique, and they were just an infinitesimally small sample of humanity as a whole – and they were all like that by chance, not by design (unless one believed in a higher power, he supposed, but while he thought that it might make sense for him to do so, being an artificial creation himself, he wasn’t sure if the same could be said for humans).

Idabashi chuckled.  “Yes, I thought you might say that.  Still, they can’t all be on the show.  Tell me, if you had to pick just _one_ person from yesterday, who would it be?”

Kiibo thought for a minute.  There _were_ quite a few to choose from.  Still, while he didn’t think he was one to play favorites, perhaps the department heads _did_ have good reasons to have only really thought that three of them stood out.  He narrowed his focus accordingly, and eventually reached a conclusion.

“Miu Akamatsu,” he said.

“Interesting,” said Idabashi.  “Why her?”

“Well…honestly, she seems so lonely.  I think she deserves a chance to be special – I think she’d like that a lot!”

At least he had the Professor, even if he wasn’t always around.  But Akamatsu-chan didn’t seem to have many people she could trust, if anyone – even her sister seemed fine with putting her down.

“I see,” said Idabashi.  “And what of her darker impulses?”

“Oh! Well, she doesn’t _have_ to be like that, does she?” Kiibo asked, suddenly looking concerned.  “And didn’t you say that this season-”

Idabashi’s watch suddenly started beeping.

“Damn it!” he muttered.  “I’m sorry, Kiibo, I really must be going.”

“Oh, alright,” said Kiibo, disappointed.

“Don’t worry,” Idabashi said as he raced out.  “It’s only for four more days!”

When the Professor had left, Kelsey approached Kiibo.

“This is always a rather chaotic time,” she told him.  “Trust me, he’d stay here if he could get away with it.”

Kiibo nodded, still looking glum.  Then, curious about who would be auditioning today, he began scanning the data files he had on the applicants.  As he was doing so, however, something caught his eye.

“Kelsey, the schedule says that there’s an ‘Angie Yonaga’ auditioning tomorrow.  Is that a relative of yours?”

Kelsey suddenly froze.  Then, after a few seconds, she looked at Kiibo and smiled nervously.

“Um…yes.  That’s my sister, actually,” she said somewhat hesitantly.  “She, um…really wanted to apply, but you need a parent or other guardian to do so.  You see, our parents died when we were kids, and ever since then, we had been…well, living with our grandmother.  Angie managed to get her to sign it, and _then_ she asked me to recommend her, which I _am_ allowed to do, but…well, anyway, I did as she asked, and she got through the first round.”

“Wow, that’s great!” Kiibo said with a smile.  “I hope she does well!”

Something strange flashed across Kelsey’s face – almost like she was in pain?  Whatever it was, her face quickly returned to normal, and Kelsey smiled, albeit still looking rather worried.

“I…thank you, Kiibo,” she said.  “Right now, though, I just hope she’s doing alright…"

* * *

“…And even though Angie really misses Hawaii, she thinks Japan is a very nice place to live! Going to school here has been super fun, and the people here have been very nice to her.  True, sometimes people make fun of Angie and her sister, because they look and sound different from everyone else, but most of the time everyone’s very kind, and Angie has made lots of friends who stick up for her!”

For whatever reason, Harukawa and Saihara were late for their agreed meet-up – although Saihara didn’t have his audition for a few hours, so it wasn’t as though he was in danger of being late – so Tsumugi had taken to milling around the crowd, listening in on any conversation she found interesting.  Right now, she was in the dining hall (which wasn’t that crowded, fortunately) listening to a dark-skinned girl with long platinum blonde hair chat endlessly with a boy that Tsumugi recognized from the previous day – the short purple-haired with the checkered scarf who had seem disinterested with Fukumoto’s speech.  This girl, however, seemed to interest him.

“So,” he said, studying the girl – Angie – carefully, “if you’re from Hawaii…does that mean you’re an American citizen?”

Angie nodded.  “Yes, Angie is well aware of her rights! As Angie’s father was a Japanese citizen when she gave birth to her and her sister, and her mother was married to him, and was an American citizen who had lived in Hawaii her whole life, it is Angie’s understanding that both she and her sister qualify for dual citizenship! Angie doesn’t understand all the specifics, but she still thinks it’s pretty cool!”

The boy nodded.  “It certainly is,” he said evenly.  “Hmm…I wonder…”

Angie blinked.  “Wonder what?”

The boy looked at her and laughed.  “Oh, it’s nothing.  I was just thinking…well, I guess when you see Americans on TV, they’re usually these…loud, obnoxious, gun-toting fashion models? But hey, that’s a stereotype, isn’t it?”

Angie rolled her eyes.  “Yes, Angie thinks it’s very unfair,” she said, hanging her head low, “for though Angie is very loud, and has high hopes that she’ll have the body of a supermodel someday, she hates guns, and greatly prefers the laws here to America’s, while also only being a 6 out of 10 on the National Obnoxious Scale.  Angie, sadly, is not a very good American.”

There was silence for a moment, and then Angie burst out laughing, with the boy quickly joining her.  Even Tsumugi, who had been trying to avoid attention, started to giggle.

“Anyway,” said Angie after they had calmed down.  “Angie is very glad to have met you! She’s going to go get some food now, but maybe you’ll talk with her later?”

The boy nodded.  “Sure, why not?  It’s not like I’m going out of my way to talk to anyone else.”

Angie smiled.  “Okay, see you later, Kokichi!”

Tsumugi watched the girl leave, but then what she had just said registered.

_Wait a minute…Kokichi?  Where have I heard that name before?_

She _had_ thought she had recognized him earlier, and now she was sure of it, but she couldn’t quite place where…

Just then, another person she recognized from the previous day – the tall boy with the spiked purple hair and goatee – walked up to the shorter boy.

“Hang on,” he said, “did that girl just call you ‘Kokichi’?  That means…wait, you used to be Kokichi Ouma?”

Wait, _what?_

“Kokichi Ouma?” said Tsumugi as she quickly ran up to the boy, all traces of stealth forgotten.  “ _The_ Kokichi Ouma?!  As in, Inik the Goblin from _Yousei Sentai Oniranger_?! _That_ Kokichi Ouma?!”

Having aired about four years previously, _Yousei Sentai Oniranger_ had been an extremely popular entry in the _Super Sentai_ series, attracting a far wider audience than it usually had in the past – and considering its popularity, that was saying something.  There were a number of reasons as to why this was the case, but many believed that it had something to do with Inik the Goblin, a comic relief character who originally was an antagonist of the heroes, but eventually joined forces with them and became a sort of sidekick.  Mischievous and often foolish, Inik was nonetheless extremely beloved by the fanbase and became a sort of mascot for the show.   Much of his charm was attributed to the young actor playing him, Kokichi Ouma, and he had gone on to play several similar roles in the years since, which played well to his strengths.

“OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!” Tsumugi shouted ecstatically, furiously fanning herself with her hands.  “I’ve watch _every_ episode of _Oniranger_ like, _ten_ times! I have so much fanart of you, and of course there’s all of my fics with you and Anzai-kun, and your my favorite _Oniranger_ character to cosplay, and-”

“Alright, alright, I get it!” the short boy said impatiently, waving her off.  “Yes, I’m Kokichi Ouma - Inik from _Oniranger_ , Jakaba from _Kamen Rider Geo_ , Pazuzu from _Space Sherriff Kratora_ , and Kid Electro from _Team Spider-Man_ …you get the idea.  Look, do you want my autograph or-”

“YES!” Tsumugi practically screamed as she pulled out a notebook.  She was supposed to use it to surreptitiously take notes on the various applicants, but as she hadn’t used it yet today (and had torn out the notes she had taken the previous day), she figured it would be fine for her to use now.  And really, who could blame her?

Ouma smiled.  “Well then, I’m a bit short on cash, so I’ll only do it you have, let’s say…5000 ye-”

A 5000 yen note was suddenly thrust into his hands by an eager Tsumugi, who then happily presented her notebook.  Ouma sighed, grabbed the notebook, signed his name, and handed it back to Tsumugi all in the span of ten seconds.  After that, he turned to the tall boy with the goatee.

“And what about you?” he asked.  “Another fan?”

“What?! N-no!” the tall boy stammered.  “I don’t watch kid’s stuff like that! I mean, I _do_ , but only because I have two younger brothers and shit! I just recognized your name after having heard it so often, that’s all!”

“Uh-huh,” said Ouma.  “Sure, whatever.  Anyway, if you’re done here, I would appreciate it if-”

“Oh, hi Shirogane-chan!”

Ouma swore under his breath as Tsumugi turned to see Harukawa and Saihara walking towards them.

“Haru-chan, Haru-chan!” Tsumugi said as she excitedly rushed up to them, pointing at Ouma.  “You know who that guy is?”

“Who?”

“None other than _Kokichi Ouma_.”

Before Ouma even had time to blink, Harukawa had already rushed in front of him, bowing on all fours.

“Please forgive me, Ouma-sama!” she said.  “ _Kratora_ was an inspiration to me! I’m not worthy to be in your presence! May I humbly request your autograph?”

“For 5000 ye-”

Tsumugi swiftly passed Harukawa another 5000 yen note, which Harukawa quickly held out to Ouma, along with an autograph book and pen.  Saihara just watched, completely baffled.

“I…I like to keep them around,” Harukawa said sheepishly.  “Just in case.”

Ouma seized the pen and autograph book, signing and returning it even faster than he had with Tsumugi.

“Ouma-sama, please tell us, what was it like to work with the Oniranger team?” Tsumugi asked eagerly.

“Does Asano-kun use teeth-whitener, or are they _really_ that white?” added Maki.  “Asking for a friend.”

“Did _your_ Jakaba costume itch in the thighs too, or am I just doing it wrong?”

“Do you think that Pazuzu _really_ earned his redemption, or had he already crossed the line when he stole the Eternity Cell?”

“Is it true that you had a crush on-?”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Ouma shouted suddenly.  He then turned to the tall boy.

“Hey, Pencil Beard-chan!” he said to him.

The tall boy scowled.  “It’s _Momota_.  Kaito Momota.”

“Sure, whatever, Pencil Beard-chan,” said Ouma, “Want to earn a quick 10,000 yen?”

Momota’s anger suddenly disappeared as his eyes lit up.  “Sure! What do I have to do?”

Ouma giggled.  “Oh, nothing much…”

* * *

Maki landed on the lobby floor with a thud, Shirogane and Saihara beside her.

“And don’t bother him again,” said Momota before walking back into the dining hall.

“I-what the hell?” Maki said indignantly, wondering how Momota was able to throw all three of them out so easily.  “I thought physical altercations were against the rules!”

“Well, they _say_ that,” said Shirogane as the three of them got to their feet, “but really, they only care if it’s a serious fight and someone actually gets hurt.  He just tossed us out quickly, and I think we’re all okay, so he’s not going to get thrown out anytime soon.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Maki.  “Well, hang on – how do you know that?”

“O-oh, I, um…” Tsumugi said, growing flustered.  “I just…overheard some employees saying that, that’s all.”

Saihara raised an eyebrow at this, but then grew angry.

“Why did he throw _me_ out?  I wasn’t even _doing_ anything!”

“Guilt by association, I suppose,” said Shirogane, looking guilty.  “Sorry, this is my fault…”

“Don’t blame yourself, Shirogane,” said Saihara.  “Those guys are jerks.  What, does this Ouma kid think he can just use money to make people do whatever he wants?”

“Hey, don’t talk about him like that!” said Maki.  “Ouma-san’s just under a lot of stress, that’s all!”

Of course, 5000 yen _did_ seem like a lot to just demand like that – it wasn’t like they were at an actual convention or anything.  If it wasn’t for Shirogane, Maki wouldn’t have been able to afford it with just the money she had on hand – she hadn’t expected to meet any non-Danganronpa celebrities, after all.  Still, they _had_ sort of sprung themselves on him (although of course she couldn’t let a chance to talk to Kokichi Ouma pass her by – if only she had thought to take a picture, now no one would believe her if she told them…); she supposed that she’d do that sort of thing too if she became a celebrity.

Though she probably already _was_ one by now…

Saihara’s stomach started to growl, and Maki became vividly aware that she too hadn’t had anything to eat yet.

“There’s no way I’m going back in there with those two still there,” Saihara muttered.  “But we don’t know how long it’ll be until they leave or how crowded it will get afterwards, and I don’t think I can do the audition on an empty stomach.”

“I saw some vending machines near the hotel entrance,” said Shirogane.  “I’ll head over and get us something.”

“Do you have enough money for that after those autographs?” asked Maki.

“Oh, absolutely!” Shirogane replied.  “Don’t let anyone find out, just so that no one gets any bright ideas, but I actually have about…50,000 yen left on hand.”

Maki blinked.

“ _Seriously_?” she asked, shocked.  “You just carry that much money around with you?”

“Oh yes! And I can get more if I end up needing it!”

“You’re kidding!  How did you earn _that_ much?”

“Oh, um…” Shirogane muttered, flustered again.  “You know…fanart commissions…other stuff…”

Saihara raised an eyebrow.  “‘Other stuff’?”

“J-just what are you implying, Saihara-kun?” asked Shirogane, suddenly angry.  “I assure you, this money isn’t from any…dubious activities!”

Saihara’s face turned bright red.  “W-what?  No, I didn’t mean that! I was just thinking, that _does_ seem like a lot of money, and well, I guess I just didn’t know that you could make so much from fanart and stuff…N-not that I thought you were doing anything else, mind you! And of course, I wouldn’t think any less of you if-”

“Why don’t you just get us some snacks for now?” Maki said as she swiftly put her hand over Saihara’s mouth, eager to stop him from digging himself deeper.  “That should tide us over until it’s time for lunch.”

“I’ll go right away!” said Shirogane, who then practically ran towards the hotel entrance.

Maki turned to Saihara and sighed.

“When Shirogane gets back, she and I are going to magically forget that the previous conversation took place,” she told him.  “So you get to be the one who learns the valuable lesson of questions that shouldn’t be asked.  Get it?”

Saihara quickly nodded.  “Got it.”

“Good,” said Maki, satisfied.

Still, as much as she wanted to let it go…Saihara had a point.  Where _did_ Shirogane get that much money?  She had mentioned cosplay before – was it possible she was doing it professionally?  But if that were the case, why not mention it?  Shirogane herself had said that she was a plain, ordinary girl…

Before she knew it, however, Shirogane had returned, her arms full of snacks.

“Take whatever you want!” she announced cheerfully.  “Though personally, I’d start off light – it’s going to be a long day, after all!”

Maki smiled and took an energy bar from her.  Honestly, what was she thinking?  Shirogane was hardly sinister – what did it matter if she had a bit more money than most?  She was just a nice, average girl - couldn’t that be enough?

* * *

Tenko paced around the lobby, impatient.  Her ticket number was 228, so she wasn’t scheduled until close to the end of the day.  That didn’t help her nerves, however – in fact, she was pretty sure it made them worse.

 _Maybe I should try meditating or something?_ she thought.  _Yeah, that’s it – I should just try to clear my mind._

She walked over to an area that was relatively uncrowded and sat down on a nearby chair.  When she had first begun to practice aikido, her teacher had stressed the importance of being able to relax the mind and body in stressful situations.

Of course, this was never something she had been especially _good_ at, but it was worth a try, wasn’t it?

She closed her eyes and began a few simple breathing exercises, attempting to clear her mind.  Just slow, deep breaths, in and out.  She could feel the tension leaving her body-

“Um, hello, sorry to bother you, but do you think you could help Angie?”

Tenko opened her eyes to see a dark-skinned girl with platinum blonde hair looking at her nervously.

“Angie’s sorry to bother you,” the girl said, “but do you think you could tell her where the ladies’ room is?  She’s just kind of lost, and…well, she really has to go.”

Tenko sighed.  Well, it wouldn’t take long to help the girl, at least.

“Tenko thought she saw one that way,” she said, pointing in the appropriate direction.

The girl smiled brightly.  “Thank you _so_ much!” she said, before running off in the direction she pointed in.

 _See, that didn’t take long at all?_ she told herself as she resumed her meditation.

In and out…in and out…she hoped she wouldn’t fall asleep.  That had happened to her the first time she had tried this exercise, and it had been extremely embara-

There was a sudden, extremely loud burst of coughing.

Tenko, groaned and turned to see a tall, thin girl coughing into a handkerchief.  The girl had fairly dull silver hair, with long bangs that obscured her left eye and a black headband with a bow, and looked rather frail.

“Oh! I-I’m sorry…” the girl said weakly, and Tenko realized too late that she had been glaring at the girl, and rather harshly as well.

“Wait, Tenko didn’t mean to-”

But the girl had already hurried off.

Tenko cursed herself.  Scaring girls away was the _last_ thing she wanted to do, but she was letting her nerves get the better of her.  All the more reason for her to get them control, she supposed.

She shut her eyes and began again.  In and out…in and out… She could feel it this time – her mind was emptying of all distractions.  Finally, she would get a moment’s peace…

“You little…do you have _any_ idea who you’re talking to?!”

Tenko’s eyes snapped open as she shot out of her seat.  That had been a boy’s voice, and what’s more, she recognized the kind of tone being used – it only meant bad news.

She quickly rushed over to the source of the voice, a small, somewhat secluded area of the lobby.  There, she saw a short girl with red hair facing a boy with dark blue hair and a face that practically screamed “I’m a creepy douchebag.”

“I don’t really care who you are,” said the girl, sounding rather bored in spite the boy’s clear hostility towards her.  “But I don’t think I like the way you’re speaking to me.  Now leave me alone.”

“You…you _bitch!_ ” shouted the boy, his eyes bulging.  “You think you can talk to me like that?   You think you can just turn me down?  And after everything I’ve done-!”

“Wait…are you saying that you think holding a door open for a girl and buying her a snack, like, entitles you for something?” asked the girl, scratching her head.  “That’s…really dumb.  You really are kind of a creep, you know that?  Besides, I’m not really that into dating guys right now, so even if you _weren’t_ acting like this, it’s not like you’d have a chance anyway.”

She waved her hand at him in a rather elaborate fashion.  “Begone, foul creature.  No one wants to talk to you.”

“Okay, that is _it!_ ” the boy practically shrieked at her.  “I’m going to make you wish you hadn’t-”

“Hey, back the fuck off!” Tenko shouted as she rushed between them.  “She said she wanted to be left alone, so leave her alone!”

The boy just laughed.  “Oh, so now the little brat has a bodyguard! And what’s some dumbass bitch like you going to do?”

_PUNCHHIMINTHEFACEPUNCHINTHEFACEPUNCHHIMINTHEFACEPUNCHHIMINTHE-_

“Oh, not much,” said Tenko as she assumed a fighting stance (she was vaguely aware that the girl was quickly typing out a text on her phone).  “Just make you regret it if you try anything.”

The boy’s smug look quickly faded, and his eyes began to dart around the room.

“N-now hold on!” he stammered.  “Violence is against the rules, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah, that’s true,” she said, nodding.  “So Tenko was wondering…just what _was_ it you were planning on doing to her?”

“W-well, I, um-”

“Because Tenko knows just what to expect from guys like you,” she said, her voice growing grim.  “And if it means stopping you, Tenko will gladly throw away her audition chances.”

“It’s okay, that won’t be necessary,” said the girl, pocketing her phone.  “Because for my next trick, I’m going to make him disappear.”

The boy blinked, confused.  “What now?”

Just then, two large security guards walked up to them.

“This boy’s bothering you, Yumeno-san?” one of them asked the girl (Yumeno?), who nodded in response.

“He threatened me,” she told them.  “And was pretty rude to boot.  This girl was there, she can tell you.”

“Oh, right!” said Tenko as the security guards looked at her.  “Yeah, Tenko totally saw it all – well, maybe not ‘all’, because she sort of just jumped in, but she saw the important parts, where he threatened her and everything.”

The guards nodded. 

“Please come with us, sir,” one of them said to the boy.

“Waitwaitwait, what are you doing?” the boy shouted as they took him by the arms and began to escort him away.  “It was just a joke, you know?  I didn’t really _mean_ any of it! What, does nobody have a sense of humor these days, sheesh-”

“You were in the gym yesterday, right?” Yumeno asked Tenko.

Tenko gulped, realizing that she had seen the girl before.

“Um…yeah, that’s right!” she said, trying to push back the memories of the previous day (How much had she seen?  Did she watch the whole sparring session?).  “Tenko’s sorry if she was…intimidating.  She was having a rough day, and got upset.”

Yumeno simply nodded, not seeming to really be interested.

“You didn’t need to get involved just now,” she told Tenko.  “I wasn’t in danger or anything – I could have handled it.”

“Well…yeah, Tenko thinks you probably could have,” she said sheepishly.  “But…Tenko can’t just stand by when awful boys threaten girls like that! She thinks that girls ought to stick together when it comes to jerks like that!”

She gave a large, earnest grin (or at least one that she hoped looked earnest).  Yumeno just sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” she said.  “I guess it was nice of you to step in…so thanks.”

Tenko suddenly felt a warm feeling welling up inside of her.

“Oh, well - you’re welcome! Oh, I’m Tenko Chabashira!” she said, suddenly feeling extremely confident in herself.  “But really, you can just call Tenko ‘Tenko’ if you want!”

Yumeno raised an eyebrow.  “That’s…kinda forward, isn’t it? I only just met you, after all.”

 _Shit_.

“Well, ah…Yumeno-san’s probably right!” Tenko said as she anxiously tried to backpedal.  “Sorry, Tenko’s just…used to being on familiar terms with girl friends – which is to say, with friends who are girls! Oh, but Tenko is hardly opposed to having a girlfriend – she just hadn’t had much luck.  Crap, I mean-”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” said Yumeno.  “Don’t worry about it.  I’ll just call you Chabashira-chan, if you’re alright with that.”

Tenko nodded frantically.  “Oh, that’s fine! Finefinefinefinefine…”

She glanced around, trying think of something else to say.

“So…how did you manage to get those guards to show up?  They knew your name and everything.”

Yumeno shrugged.  “I had their number.  My mom told me to use it if I ever needed to.”

“Your mom?” Tenko asked.  Come to think of it, she _was_ pretty sure she had heard the name Yumeno somewhere before.  But where could that have been?

Yumeno nodded.  “Yeah, that’s right – my mom’s Suzume Yumeno, head of Team Danganronpa’s legal team.  I’m Himiko Yumeno – it’s nice to meet you, I guess.”

* * *

“Um, alright… ‘My name is Shuichi Saihara, and I’ve been a huge fan of Danganronpa for years now…’ Wait, no, no! Damn it, I don’t know, what should I talk about?  Should I mention my inspirations, or do they want me to be more original?  Do they want to hear about my family history or something?  Shit, what do I do?!”

Shuichi stared pleadingly at Harukawa and Shirogane, hoping that they would be able to help him.

“Well…” Harukawa said hesitantly.  “Like I said earlier, I don’t think I’m really supposed to talk about it…but I do think they like hearing you talk about the series! Enthusiasm goes a long way.”

Shirogane smiled and nodded encouragingly.  “Just be yourself, Saihara-kun! If you show how much you care about Danganronpa, you’re sure to stand out!”

Shuichi smiled back at her, but while he appreciated her assurances, they didn’t help his nerves much.  _Could_ he talk about that?  He had never really gone into detail about his reasons for loving the show before, and some of them were…personal.

He didn’t have any longer to mull it over, though, as at that moment, he heard his name called.

“Good luck!” said Harukawa.  “We’ll be rooting for you!”

Shuichi nodded, and despite not feeling remotely ready for this, walked towards the audition room doors, presented his ticket, and entered.

* * *

Kagawa stifled a yawn.  Already they were 34 applicants into the day, and so far he wasn’t impressed.  Oh, there had been a few standouts – a pale girl with burn scars and an eyepatch who wanted to the Ultimate Demolition Expert, for one – but they only had _some_ potential.  None of them screamed “Prime Danganronpa Material”, and as he had told anyone who would listen, this season would require a standout cast – too much was on the line for them to have anything less.

Of course, after over a decade of this process, Kagawa had learned not to hope for greatness with every applicant – the trick was patience.  Difficult for some, perhaps, but he knew the value of patience – in his role as chief financial officer, he spent a great deal of his time waiting for a long-term investment to pay off, or for a golden opportunity to present itself.

That said, this attitude had brought him his share of criticism – many said he wasn’t fast enough to act, and sometimes let potential opportunities for profit slip through his fingers.  He had often scoffed that this, of course – there were always risks you couldn’t afford to take.

 _“Hastiness will only bring loss,”_ he always told his subordinates.  _“Yes, if you wait too long, your chance might pass you by, but act too soon, and you might never even see it.  It’s like fencing – you get nowhere by just slashing around with wild abandon.  You watch, you wait until the time is perfect…and only then do you strike.”_

All of this was on his mind when he watched the latest applicant – a thin, nervous looking boy named Shuichi Saihara - nervously walk into the audition room.  Kagawa saw the boy glance up in department heads’ direction and, wondering if this was a sign, decided to pay close attention to him.

The others seemed less invested, with Ozawa and Fukumoto openly yawning, and Sawada looking rather drowsy herself, even though it wasn’t even noon yet.  Idabashi seemed distracted by his notes, and while Yumeno was at least focused on the boy, she kept tapping a pencil rhythmically against the table, obviously bored.  Only Mukai seemed to be paying any real attention to him, but that was to be expected – she, at least, was consistently interested in the applicants’ personalities, since it was her job to be, after all.

Ikehara introduced herself to the boy, and not for the first time, Kagawa wondered just where she got her energy.  The sheer amount of enthusiasm she, Hagiwara and Shirogane could show for their jobs – even sitting through hours of mediocrity – had always perturbed him.  Still, such fervor was why they had been brought on in the first place (though Shirogane’s case was a touch more complicated), and it had always been a benefit, so he considered it a curiosity, and little more.

“Now then, could you please give us your name and number?” Ikehara asked Saihara, who nodded.

“Um, s-sure…” the boy said.  For a moment, he hesitated, but then he straightened up and spoke considerably more firmly.

“Number 154…my name is Shuichi Saihara,” he said.

Ikehara wrote down the name and number.

“Alright then, thank you, Saihara-kun,” she said with a smile.  “Now then, what brought you to Danganronpa?  Are you a fan?”

Saihara noticeably gulped.  “Um…yes, that’s right.  I’ve always been such a huge fan of Danganronpa and…always wanted to be in one…”

He perked up for a moment.  “Actually, I’ve even done a bit of fanart on my blog! It’s, um…not much, but people who’ve talked about it have said it was really good!”

Ikehara nodded.  “I see, I see.  Are you active in the fan community?”

This caught Sawada’s attention, and she leaned forward.  Kagawa knew what she was hoping for – the chance that Saihara was being modest, and that he had actually made quite a name for himself online.  A minor celebrity among fans was often useful for drumming up positive word of mouth, and could even boost ratings somewhat.

Such hopes were for naught, however, as Saihara shook his head.

“Oh…no, nothing like that.  Actually, I don’t really go on fan sites at all.  I mean, I tried once, but…well, one visit to 2ch was enough to get me to swear _that_ off.”

Saihara laughed nervously, and Ikehara joined him.  Sawada, however, sighed and appeared to lose interest again.

“Well, that’s alright,” Ikehara told the boy.  “A bit of content still says a lot about you! Can I ask what got you into the series?”

Saihara turned pale, and for a moment didn’t say anything.  When he finally did speak, his voice sounded oddly hoarse.

“I…can we…can we not talk about that?  I-it’s…kind of personal…”

Kagawa looked at Fukumoto, who looked annoyed at this.  Mukai, looked intrigued, quickly scribbling something down.

“Um…okay, I guess that’s fine,” said Ikehara, sounding confused.  “So…what would your ideal talent be?”

“Well…” Saihara hesitated again, although his voice seemed normal now.  “I think that if I were a contestant, I would want to be… an Ultimate Detective.”

Ozawa gave a derisive snort, and Kagawa didn’t have to ask to know why, rolling his eyes – every season, a very considerable portion of the applicants mentioned Ultimate Detective as one of their top choices, and very few of them were ever suitable for the role.

“I know there’ve been a few in the past,” the boy continued.  “And I’ve always loved those characters…”

“Really?  Any in particular?” Ikehara asked encouragingly ( _and foolishly_ , Kagawa thought to himself).

“Oh, Kyoko Kirigiri!” said Saihara, newly enthused (the moment he said “Kirigiri”, there was a sudden snapping sound, and Kagawa didn’t need to turn to know that Yumeno had just snapped her pencil in half).  “She’s always been my favorite.  Actually, most of the fanart I’ve drawn is of her.  I’ve seen some other people say she’s not all that great, but for me, the original will always be-”

“Oh yeah, I totally get it!” Ikehara cut him off hurriedly.  “So, you want to be an Ultimate Detective, huh?”

“Oh, um, yes, that’s right,” said Saihara, taken aback by her interruption.  “I’ve always admired characters like that…their intelligence, their drive.”

He looked down at his feet for a moment.  “That’s…well, that’s always been something I’ve wanted to be.  So I would want to be one of them.”

Then, perhaps realizing that that might hurt his chances, quickly added, “Ah, but I don’t _have_ to be a detective.  I’ll be anything to be part of the show.”

He looked straight at Ikehara, and Kagawa thought there was something strange in his demeanor.  Almost like…desperation, perhaps?

“And I mean that, anything,” said the boy, seeming to want to emphasize this.  “I’d do…anything to be a part of Danganronpa.”

Ikehara raised an eyebrow.  “Anything, huh?  Like what?”

“I promise, if I get selected…I will work as hard as I can!” said Saihara, steadily growing excited as a smile crept across his lips.  “I will come up with the best, most gruesome murders, I promise! Everyone will love it! And an Ultimate Detective hasn’t been the blackened yet, so I’m sure I can do that! I’m also thinking about…the perfect punishment for an Ultimate Detective…”

“Mhm...” said Ikehara, mulling this over.  “I’ll tell you this, that’s a bit of a break from tradition.  We think that Ultimate Detectives are better suited to be heroes.”

It was true – when it came to recurring Ultimate Talents, Ultimate Detective was right up there with Ultimate Lucky Student, and while the latter tended to be all over the morality spectrum, Ultimate Detectives were usually straightforwardly heroic.  There would be the occasional antagonistic figure, of course, and some didn’t last nearly as long as one might expect, but none of them had ever committed murder.

Saihara’s face fell. 

“Oh, I…well, like I said, I’ll d-do anything!” he stammered.  “I don’t have be a culprit _or_ an Ultimate Detective – I can be whatever you want me to be!”

Ikehara.  “I see.  I’ll just put you down for ‘anything goes’, then.  Anyway, I think that’s all.  If you could just sign this contract, you’ll be free to go.”

“But I…okay,” said Saihara, looking despondent.  He walked over and signed the contract, then silently left the room.

Fukumoto shook his head.  “Disappointing, I’d say.  The boy would make a poor Ultimate Detective.”

Most of the others murmured in agreement, but Kagawa felt that he had to object.

“His personality in the real world only goes so far,” he reminded them.  “We can make him more suitable if need be.”

“That may be the case,” said Mukai, “but personality rewrites only go so far as well.  The change won’t go well if we can’t find _something_ in his true self to latch onto, and as far as Ultimate Detectives go, they’re just not much like him.”

Kagawa had no counterargument prepared for this, so he reluctantly conceded the point.  Still, ideas were slowly beginning to take shape in his head.  The viewers might be fond of the traditional Danganronpa format, but you always needed a few good emotional hooks.  Perhaps a traditional take was the wrong way to go here…

Well, there were still several hundred applicants left – it was entirely possible that they’d get enough applicants that would produce much more interesting results than whatever Saihara would give them.  He just had to be patient.

…That being said, he had a good feeling about this.  Could this be it?  Could this be the opportunity they were looking for?

Perhaps he could approach Sawada later and try to pitch this to her – she had always been his most steadfast ally for matters like these.

Yes, he was growing more and more certain – now was the time to strike.

* * *

_???????? Theater_

_She’s doing it again – whenever I try talking to Sis about this stuff, she always slips into this soft, gentle tone, like I was made of glass or something._

_Of course, I totally am, but that doesn’t make it any less fucking annoying._

_It’s her therapist instincts, I guess – she doesn’t want to upset me.  Of course, she hasn’t actually seen any patients in, like, forever, since she’s decided that she needs to be ready to help me out 24/7._

**_(You know she hates you, right?  She wanted to have a job, date hot chicks, maybe start a family or some shit like that, but because you fucked up, she had to drop everything to make sure you didn’t jump off a fucking bridge.)_ **

_ANYWAY, tonight we decided to be lazy and order pizza.  With toppings galore, because why not?  I mean, we’re not celebrating anything or shit like that, but I don’t see why we can’t indulge ourselves every now and then.  Hell, we ever decided to order it from this new place that opened just down the street – support your local businesses, you know?  So when it gets here, I take a nice, big bite and-_

**_(Wow, okay, that’s some pretty shitty pizza.)_ **

_Fuck you, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this._

_…Eventually._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this one took a bit longer than expected. I would have gotten it out sooner, but I was having some personal difficulties, which made it difficult to find the energy to write the last few bits. Fortunately, I was able to crank it out.
> 
> I've been trying to write new chapters on a more-or-less weekly basis, but if I'm being honest, I'm not sure if that will be possible for the time being. That said, I'll still be working on the fic - just expect somewhat irregular updates for the time being.
> 
> Anyway, writing the scene with Shirogane and how much money she was carrying around might have been one of the trickier parts of writing this - I don't know how much yen a teenage girl in Japan could carry around without it looking odd (and also without it seeming _too _excessive), so I had to ask some people who would know better than me. I have the sneaking suspicion that I still screwed it up somehow, though. Note to self: I should probably shy away from specific figures. :P__
> 
> The chapter title I took from a page on TV Tropes - I decided to go with something that best described Shuichi's experiences this chapter, which I think was also shared among some of the other characters to a lesser extent. Maybe not the best I could have done, but I think it works well, all things considered.
> 
> All of the shows that Ouma's been on are from pre-exising franchises, of course - that was something I put in for fun. I like the idea of thinking of how long-running series have continued into future. We just might see more of that later...
> 
> I snuck a couple more cameos from other series in here, although one's really just a quick allusion, and the other (the guy harassing Himiko) isn't really a cameo as much as a "vague resemblance". Perhaps I should consider listing them at the end of the fic...
> 
> Speaking of which, however, I did have one V3 character who hasn't officially been introduced yet make a brief appearance here. Did anyone spot them?
> 
> Anyway, please leave a comment below and tell me what you think!


	6. #LivingInDenial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter - this story got recommended on Danganronpa's Fanfic Rec page on TV Tropes! Thanks, sentairider42 - I really appreciate it! :)

**Auditions – Day 2, cont.**

Shuichi did his best to blink back the tears as he stumbled back into the lobby, desperate not to let anyone see. 

It was over – he had completely blown his chances.  He couldn’t see any way they would choose him after that display.  Had he seemed too eager?  Not eager _enough_? Should he have talked more about himself, gone into more detail?

It didn’t matter now.  He could still remember the way Ikehara had looked at him – the cold stare of indifference.  She didn’t see him as anyone remotely worth getting invested in – at most, she thought he was an annoyance, and she probably wouldn’t even remember him as such by the end of the day.

Not that he could blame her – he was a fool for even thinking that he might make it on the show in the first place.

“There he is! Hey, Saihara-kun, over here!”

Shuichi looked up to see Harukawa and Shirogane running towards him.  Damnit, why had he decided to talk to Harukawa – all he had done was just made himself a bigger disappointment.

“That didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” said Harukawa as they reached him.  “So, how’d it…oh…”

Shuichi couldn’t hold it in any longer – he sank down to his knees and began to weep openly.  A part of him whispered that he shouldn’t be causing a scene, but that part of him was silenced within seconds.  He had, for the past several weeks (if not the past few _years_ ), pinned all of his hopes on this, and now they had been ruthlessly dashed in the span of five minutes.  If his parents could see him now, they would be ashamed of him.

Suddenly, he felt two strong arms wrap around him, and a warm body press against his.  Normally, he’d be embarrassed and desperately try to pull away, but something about this held him in place – it was almost like being wrapped in a blanket.

“Don’t worry,” Tsumugi Shirogane whispered into his ear.  “You’ll get in – I’ll promise you that.”

At that moment, Shuichi’s tears suddenly stopped.  It sounded absurd, yes, but the way Shirogane said it, he wanted to believe it.

No – he _did_ believe it.

* * *

“So, um…why’d you decide to audition for this, anyway?” Kaito asked Ouma, who was nonchalantly eating some ramen.  “This sort of thing doesn’t really seem like it’d be your type of thing.”

He had been sticking around the actor for awhile now, partially out of the hope that he’d hear some interesting tidbits (not that he’d admit it to anyone), and partially out of the steadily diminishing but still held-out belief that he might get more money passed his way.  Of course, the longer he was with Ouma, the more his presence began to grate on him, but Kaito was willing to stick it out and play nice on the off-chance that he’d get something worthwhile out of it.

Ouma just laughed at his question.  “Oh, that’s great!  ‘What’s a nice kid like you doing in a place like this?’, right?  Couldn’t I ask you the same question, Pencil Beard-chan?”

Oh, come _on_.

“I mean, what's there to say?” Kaito asked while flashing a cocky looking grin, hoping it was convincing.  “I thought it sounded cool, so I thought I’d go for it.  A man’s gotta take a chance when he sees it, right?”

Ouma just looked him up and down. 

“Really?” he asked.  “It was that simple, huh?”

“I – what, are you saying I’m lying?” Kaito asked, glaring down at the short boy.  “What the fuck do _you_ think the reason is?”

Ouma shrugged.  “I dunno – peer pressure, maybe?  You seem like a guy who’s easily influenced.”

A memory flashed through Kaito’s mind…

_“Danganronpa?  Please, as if you have the balls to kill someone.  What, do you think you’ll just be able to lure some girl behind the school and knife her in the gut?  You really think it’ll be that simple?”_

“D-don’t just assume shit like that!” Kaito said as he shook his head to clear it.  “If I say it’s that simple, then it’s that fucking simple, get it?”

“Okay, okay!” said Ouma, rolling his eyes.  “What, can’t a guy ask a simple question around here?”

“If that’s how you feel, then why not answer mine?” Kaito asked with a grin.

“Well, maybe it’s not _that_ simple, now is it?”

“What’s so hard to understand?  You’re auditioning for Danganronpa – tell me why.”

Ouma just chuckled.  “You really have no idea, do you, Pencil Beard-cha-”

“ _OOOOOUMAAAA!”_

Everyone in the dining hall turned their head to see a tall man with slicked back golden hair, a finely pressed black suit, and reflective black sunglasses march through the door, looking absolutely furious.

“ _There_ you are!” said the man as he stomped over to Ouma and Kaito.  “Where the hell have you been?”

“Um…eating?” Ouma said incredulously, indicating his bowl of ramen.

 “And _why_ are you eating down here?”

“…Because I was hungry? Geez, Bando-san, why do you _think_ people eat?”

“If you were hungry, why didn’t you eat in your room?” Bando asked through clenched teeth.  “Were we not planning to go over our plans for your audition?”

“Well, that sounds about right, Bando-san,” Ouma said cheerfully.  “But you seemed so tired this morning, I figured I’d come down here for a few hours, and then we could talk about it later this afternoon.”

“And that’s another thing!” said Bando.  “Why was it that my alarm was set for four hours _after_ I had originally set it for?  Did you have something to do with that, I wonder?”

“Who, me?” Ouma asked, gesturing to himself while innocently gazing up at Bando.  “Why would I ever do something like that?”

“Wait, hang on, who the fuck is this guy?” asked Kaito.

“Oh, right!” said Ouma, turning to Kaito.  “Pencil Beard-chan, this is Keiji Bando, my agent.  Bando-san, Pencil Beard-chan.”

Bando glanced toward Kaito for a moment, then swiftly turned his attention back to Ouma.

“Is there any particular reason you’re making this difficult for me – for _us_?” he asked the actor.  “You adamantly refused to audition for the last season, but now, only a few months later, you decide to change your mind?  Just what the hell is going through your head, Ouma?”

Ouma simply shrugged.  “What can I say?  I’m a fickle boy.”

Bando scowled at him.

“Come with me,” he said.  “ _Now_.”

Ouma sighed, quickly slurping up the rest of his ramen, then got out of his seat.  As he began to walk out of the room, he glanced at Kaito.

“Honestly?” he said.  “Things have been getting too…predictable.  I want to make some waves.”

And with that, he turned and followed Bando out of the dining hall.

Kaito just sat there, as did most of the other dining all patrons, awkwardly staring at the door.

_Just what did he mean by that?_

Then, a tall boy with long, dark hair and a black surgical mask covering his face, broke the silence by asking the other question that was on everyone’s mind.

“Why was that man wearing sunglasses indoors?”

* * *

Kirumi Tojo felt her forehead press against the humming surface of the vending machine, and quickly snapped her eyes open, rapidly shaking her head in an attempt to stay awake.

_Damn it, not again._

Embarrassed, she quickly grabbed her already dispensed bottle of water, walked over to a nearby chair in the lobby, and sat down, barely acknowledging what was going on around her.  The average passerby might think that she was blitzed out of her mind, and honestly, that wasn’t too inaccurate – the medication that she took really took her out of it.  She wasn’t an addict, though.  In fact, she _hated_ being like this, so... _passive_.

Still, if she ever wanted to go out, it was either this or have someone waiting on her hand and foot, and she hated _that_ even more.  If there was a choice between lazing around doing nothing and having to deal with everyone fussing over her, she’d take the former in a heartbeat.

Another violent cough wracked her body.  If the medication had at least stopped _that_ , it would have been worth something, but no such luck.  All it did was alleviate the worst symptoms and made her lethargic to the point that on her worst days, she worried that she’d fall asleep standing up.  She’d feel more alert after a couple of hours, but that meant that the medicine was wearing off, and she’d have to take more soon.  It was better than spending the day in constant pain, though, so she took it anyway.

Timing things right for her audition was going to be annoying as hell, she knew that much.  Still, she had experience with that, so she was fairly confident she could do it.  The only problem was staying awake _now_.

She took a long sip of water – it was important to stay hydrated, after all.  It was not, however, enough to wake her up.  Her eyelids began to droop again, and she shook her head once more.  It wouldn’t do to fall asleep here – not in public.  No, she should just head back to her room.

She shakily stood up, and made her way towards the doors to the hotel area.  As she did so, however, her vision began to get fuzzy.  She staggered for a moment, trying to find her footing.

 _I’ll just rest for a moment, then keep going,_ she told herself.  She took a few deep breathes while she tried to steady herself.  She shut her eyes for just a moment…

_It was like she was falling through the sky…_

“Whoa!”

Strong hands suddenly grabbed Kirumi.  She opened her eyes to see quite possibly the tallest boy she had ever seen staring down at her.  His long hair and enormous muscles made him look quite intimidating, but his face was full of concern.

“Are you alright?” he asked her.

“W-wha?” Kirumi slurred out, and she was made vaguely aware that she was lying on the ground, the boy’s hands supporting her back and head.  “What…happened…?”

“You started to collapse,” said a short boy with an incredibly deep voice that she had only now noticed was standing next to the tall boy.  “It looked like you fainted or something.  Good thing Gonta was quick enough to catch you before you hit the ground.”

“O-oh,” she said quietly, her face turning red with embarrassment.  “O-okay.”

A crowd had started to gather, and Kirumi heard one boy say, “Damn, is that girl high as balls or what?”

A few other boys laughed, but a girl with long, brown pigtails strode forward, looking furious.

“Don’t you talk about her like that, asshole!” she shouted at the offending boys.  “It figures that a bunch of boys would talk about a girl like that!”

A number of girls in the crowd voiced their agreement, and suddenly everyone was shouting.

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!” yelled the short boy, his voice cutting through the noise.  Surprised, the crowd quieted down.

“Now then, are you alright?” he asked, turning back to Kirumi.  “Are you sick?  Do you need any help?”

If she had been feeling better, she would have told him to go screw himself, wrenched herself out of the larger boy’s grip, and marched up to her room on her own accord.  Right now, though…yeah, that wasn’t happening.

“I…I just need to…get to my room…” she told him, any anger she had felt already fading.  “Lie down for a bit…”

The boy nodded.  “Let’s find someone to take you up, then.”

“I really think…I can go by myself,” she said.  She attempted to sit up, but then her head began to spin again, so she quickly laid back down.

“I really think you can’t,” the boy told her.  “Someone here can help you get to your room, and then we can ask if there’s anyone on the staff to come and check up on you.”

“Oh, Angie can take her!” said a dark-skinned, platinum-blonde haired girl who gently pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

“I-I…look, this really isn’t necessary…” Kirumi tried to protest, but the girl walked forward and put a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Please,” she said, looking straight into Kirumi’s eyes.  “Angie insists.”

Kirumi wanted to protest again, but her energy felt like it was rapidly fading, and Angie’s stare was enough to remove any further resistance she might have had.  Acquiescing, she allowed Angie and Gonta to help her to her feet and guide her towards the hotel entrance.  Eventually, they reached the elevator, and while Gonta, certain that Angie would be able to handle this by herself, returned to the lobby, Angie pressed the button to call the elevator.

They waited for a moment, and Kirumi’s eyes began to droop once again.  She did her best to stay awake, but it didn’t seem to be enough.  She felt herself starting to fall asleep again, but despite their difference in size, Angie was easily able to keep her steady.

“So, what’s your name?” the shorter girl asked, beaming up at her.

“Kirumi Tojo,” she answered back, sounding almost hypnotized.  She was scarcely aware of her surroundings by this point – she felt like she might pass out at any moment.

“Well, don’t you worry, Kirumi-chan!” the girl said cheerfully.  “You’re in Angie’s hands now! She’ll make sure you’re perfectly safe!”

 _Can’t I just be in my own hands for once?_ Kirumi asked herself.

Day in, day out, it was always the same.  Whenever someone found out that she was sick, they always wanted to do whatever they could to help her, almost putting her problems before their own.  And to be fair, it’s not that she was ungrateful – far from it – but she always seemed to matter more than other people.  How was any of _that_ fair?  Couldn’t someone stop feeling sorry for her for once and live their own lives?  Or what if _she-_

“Okay, here we are!” said Angie, and Kirumi suddenly realized they were right in front of her room.

“H-how did you…know which room was…mine?” she asked, swaying on her feet.

“You told Angie yourself just a moment ago! Don’t you remember?”

Oh.

…Goddamn it all.

“Oh, and you also gave me your key,” said Angie, taking a card key and sliding through the door’s lock, then swiftly pushing the door open.

“Here you are!” she said, handing Kirumi her key back.

“Th-thank you…” said Kirumi as she stumbled into the room.  She didn’t have a chance to hear Angie’s reply, as the door had shut behind her.  Using the last of her strength, she hobbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it, before finally surrendering to the fog of pharmaceutical-induced slumber.

* * *

Tenko and Himiko had watched the frail-looking girl get escorted back to the hotel.  Once the tall boy – Gonta - had returned, the crowd began to disperse, and Himiko turned to Tenko.

“Why did you stick up for her like that?” Himiko asked Tenko.  “It’s not like you know her…or do you?”

“Well, no, Tenko doesn’t know her,” the martial artist answered.  “But it’s like she said before – she can’t just stand by when boys are awful to girls like that!”

Himiko just stared at her.

“Um…is something wrong, Yumeno-san?” Tenko asked her after about thirty seconds had passed and Himiko was still staring at her.

Himiko blinked and turned away.

“…No,” she said.  “Hey, quick question – what number is your audition ticket?”

“Oh, it’s 228!” Tenko told her.  “So Tenko will be going later today! She still has a few hours, though.  What about you?”

Himiko reached into her pocket and pulled out a ticket labeled “601”, confusing Tenko.

“Aren’t there only 600 spots?”

Himiko nodded.  “Yeah, but they give the 001 ticket away at opening ceremonies.  Honestly, they should probably just have a special “Monokuma Ticket” for that or something – I don’t know why they still use a number.”

“That does sound kind of silly, yeah,” said Tenko.  “Still, that means you’re going last, right?  Of all the luck…”

Himiko crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.  “What do you mean by that?”

“Well…that means everyone else will have gone before you, right?  That…well, your chances wouldn’t be too likely then, right?”

Himiko just shook her head.  “No, I think I’ll probably get in.”

“Oh, well, Tenko definitely thinks you should stay confident!” Tenko said sheepishly.  “She just…nevermind, you’re sure to get in if you put your mind-”

“Can we talk about something else?” said Himiko, abruptly cutting her off.

“Um…sure! What do you want your Ultimate Talent to-”

“Something _other_ than Danganronpa, please?”

“Oh…” said Tenko.  “Well, um…”

“I mean, if you’d rather I’d left, I can,” Himiko said quietly.  “I’m not really that great at talking to people anyway.”

“No, no, that’s fine!” Tenko hastily shouted.  “I’m not that great at it either! We can just talk about…um…”

Truth be told, it was kind of difficult to think about anything _other_ than Danganronpa in this place.  Still, if it meant being able to actually _talk_ to a girl for a bit…

“Do you…like aikido?”

_Damn it! What, can you only think about two fucking things?!_

“Not…really?” said Himiko.  “But…I guess I’d be okay with learning about it…”

_…Roll with it._

“Okay, great!” said Tenko, grinning ear to ear.  “Let’s go over to the gym for a bit – I’ll give you a demonstration!”

As she led Himiko to the gym, Tenko breathed a sigh of relief.  For once, she hadn’t managed to screw it up somehow.  Now all she needed to do was to stick the landing.  But really, how hard could that be?

* * *

“Applicant 199! Kaito Momota!”

Kaito froze, right in the middle of biting down on a burger.  Suddenly not hungry anymore, he carefully swallowed the piece he had already been eating and then got up and threw the rest in the trash.

 _This is it_ , he told himself.  _Don’t be a pussy.  Get in there and prove that you’ve got what it takes for this! Prove him wrong!_

He walked over to the security guard, handed over his ticket, and then headed through the audition room doors.

“Good afternoon!” greeted the interviewer, a guy who looked a little older than Kaito with wild, red hair.  “I’m Goro Hagiwara, and I’ll be interviewing you today.  Can I get you to state your name and ticket number for the camera?”

Kaito eyed the camera next to Hagiwara.  He briefly pondered if he should watch what he said, but then decided to wing it.  A true man wasn’t afraid of what other people would think of him, after all.

“No problem!” he said.  “Name’s Kaito Momota, Number 199!”

Hagiwara wrote something down on a notepad, then grinned at Kaito.

“Okay, thanks, Momota-san! Now then, tell us – what do you like about Danganronpa?”

Alright, this was pretty easy.  Just run with it.

“You’re kidding, right?” Kaito asked with a smirk.  “It’s gotta be all the killing! Honestly, death scenes are a lost art – just shooting someone’s pretty damn boring, y’know?  But the murderers always manage to pull something cool off.  And the executions…man, if I had to die, I’d rather go out like that, not in some hospital bed!”

“Yeah, I get ya!” Hagiwara said with a grin, as he took down more notes.  “We definitely try to give our contestants death scenes that stick with people.  If you’re gonna die, might as well go out with a bang, right?”

Hagiwara paused, as if he was listening for something, and then looked nervous.

“Right, moving on!” he said hurriedly.  “So tell me, Momota-san, what Ultimate Talent do you envision yourself having?”

“Something badass,” said Kaito, not all that invested in this question.  “I don’t really care what it is, really, as long it it’s not something lame like ‘Chess Player’ or whatever.”

“Gotcha.  And made you want to audition in the first place?”

 _Aw shit_ …

* * *

 _“This?” his father said as he tossed the test scores on the table.  “This is bullshit.  Momotas are supposed to excel –_ you _?_   _Don’t.”_

_“Hey, I’m doing my best!” he said, as his parents both sat around the table.  His father, his bulky frame seeming to fill up the room, glared at him, while his mother, looking considerably smaller beside her husband, appeared concerned.  “I’m so close – I can feel it! Next time will be different!”_

_“Kaito, dear, I know you’ve been trying,” his mother said softly.  “But please understand, you’ve said all of this before.”_

_His father nodded.  “We need to face facts here – you’re not gonna improve.  It’s impossible.”_

_“Impossible” – Kaito always chafed at the mere mention of the word.  All it did was limit people – limit_ him _._

_“Hey, don’t say that!” he shouted, rising from his chair.  “You - you don’t know what I’m capable of!”_

_“Oh really?” his father scoffed, adjusting his glasses.  “We’ve raised you for these past 17 years, and you know what?  I haven’t seen anything that tells me you’re ever gonna be more than some guy scanning barcodes or delivering pizzas or whatever kinda shit they’ll have you doing for minimum wage._ Maybe _you’ll be able to scrounge up enough charm to leech off some girl, but I think I’d rather see you hold on to_ some _of your manhood.”_

_“DON’T TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN’T DO!” Kaito practically roared in his face._

_“Don’t you talk to your father like that!” responded his mother, but his father waved her off._

_“Oh?” he asked, a smirk creeping across his lips.  “Tell me, then – what_ are _you gonna do?”_

_Kaito gave a smirk of his own._

_“This,” he said, taking the Danganronpa application out of his pocket and passing it over to them.  When his mother saw it, she gasped, her face turning pale.  His father, however, merely took the application and studied it for a moment, not speaking for about a minute or so.  Then, he started to laugh._

_“Danganronpa?  Please, as if you have the balls to kill someone.  What, do you think you’ll just be able to lure some girl behind the school and knife her in the gut?  You really think it’ll be that simple?”_

_“Kenta, what are you saying?” his mother asked, horrified.  “He can’t go on that…horrible show! He’ll be killed!”_

_His father scoffed.  “See, that’s the problem, Keiko – you’ve coddled him.  He’s still just a boy, when he should be a man.  I would’ve been here more if it wasn’t for work – I could have brought him up right, but it’s too late now.  He’s got one thing right – this is the only way forward for bums like him.  At least this way, he’ll have the chance to get his hands dirty for once.”_

_Against his wife’s continued (but weakening) objections, he took out a pen and signed the application, giving his permission for Kaito to apply._

_“There,” he said, handing it back to Kaito.  “Hopefully they’ll make you into someone worth calling himself a Momota.  Hell, maybe you’ll luck out and get to coast by on those winnings, or at least get to go out with some dignity.”_

_Kaito look at his father’s bold, crisp signature - impossible to miss, as with anything that he put out._

_“Of course,” his father continued.  “That’s assuming you make it in.”_

* * *

“You listening, Momota-san?”

Kaito blink as he returned to reality, seeing Hagiwara staring at him impatiently.

“Uh, yeah, sorry,” he said sheepishly.  “What were you talkin’ about, again?”

“I was just asking you what made you decide to audition.”

“Oh, right! I mean, I think it’s pretty simple, really – I’m gonna prove I’ve got what it takes to get to the top!”

Hagiwara scribbled something down.  “Really?  Does this mean what I think it means?”

“Fuck yeah!” Kaito said, giving a thumbs up and a massive grin.  “I’m not just gonna be in Danganronpa, I’m gonna kill everybody and win! Once I’ve got fame and fortune, I don’t gotta worry about what’s impossible!”

* * *

_???????? Theater_

_So, Sis has asked me to try avoid Danganronpa news from now on – she says it only upsets me._

_…I mean,_ yeah _, but…well, what the fuck am I supposed to do?  Ignorance isn’t exactly bliss here – if I don’t know what’s going on, I feel like I’ll tear my own eyes out.  At least this way, I’ll know whatever new shit they start throwing out – the new season aside, I want to know if they pull something like the New Hope Cut again._

 _I keep telling myself I’ve grown numb to how they rev up the meat grinder every four months (I_ haven’t _, obviously – it’s just dull enough so that I can survive it, and that’s not counting those spontaneous moments it becomes fresh again), but it’s the edited stuff that hurts the most._

_I know, I know, I’m a selfish bitch – it’s not anything I haven’t told myself._

**_Hey, let’s play a game! It’s called “Guess How Many Pieces Your Soul’s Been Smashed into When You Watch Naegi Completely Betray All His Fucking Morals”!_ **

_There, see?_

**_Aw, it’s cute when you pretend you’re completely apathetic to me! #LivingInDenial!_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so, this one was a little shorter than normal - I suppose I just didn't have that much planned out for it. It certainly helps that I've gotten a lot of the initial set-up out of the way.
> 
> I deliberately left Kirumi's exact condition rather vague. I'll confess that I don't really have anything in particular in mind at the moment, as I think it would have been difficult to decide at this point - I have a general idea of what I want to do with her character, but I haven't quite worked out all of the specifics yet, and I wanted to introduce her sooner rather than later. It might not be an real world medical condition at all, to be honest. I'd appreciate any feedback I can get here all the same.
> 
> I hope I've at least explained the source of Kaito's behavior now, although it of course doesn't absolve him of blame. As for where things will go for him from here on out...well, stayed tuned!
> 
> One last note: the ??????? Theater segment may or may not mean what you think it means. I'm sure that'll answer any questions you might have.
> 
> Anyway, please leave a comment below and tell me what you think!
> 
> Edit: Oh, and I have exams and final papers coming up early next week, so I won't have much time to work on this for a bit. I should have time during Christmas, though.


	7. Valhalla, I'm Coming

**Auditions – Day 2, cont.**

“Ohoho, I like him!” Fukumoto said as he leaned back in his chair.  “He had a real…warrior’s zeal about him, don’t you think?”

“He certainly has enthusiasm, I’ll give him that much,” said Kagawa.  “But do we give him the role he desires?”

“He wants to win,” said Yumeno, “and the ones who loudly announce that they’re going to kill everyone _never_ win.  And this one is definitely not the subtle type.”

“Which could be changed,” chimed in Idabashi.

“Yeah, but then he’d lose his appeal!” said Sawada.  “‘Big and loud’ is part of the charm for guys like him.  Besides, he doesn’t really strike me as the villainous type, know what I mean?  The antagonists need to be more cool and collected if they’re going to last awhile, right?  This one?  He honestly strikes me as a more heroic character – like a Shōnen protagonist!”

“Is such a character really what we want for the primary hero, though?” asked Mukai.  “We generally prefer someone with a fair amount of intelligence, after all, and since you seem to want to keep as much of his general demeanor as possible…well, I don’t think he’s…especially well-suited for that.”

“Exactly what I was thinking!” said Sawada, grinning.  “After all, we’re not making Shōnen here, are we?  No, I think we’re looking at the classic best friend type – someone who’s optimistic enough to support whoever takes the protagonist role to help them through the early trials.  After that…”

She shrugged.  “Well…no matter how he dies, it’s bound to absolutely heartbreaking!”

“What if he lives, though?” asked Yumeno.  “The narrative you seem to be setting up will only have the emotional weight you want if he dies.”

Sawada’s smile faded slightly.  “Oh…hmm, good point…”

Ozawa cleared his throat.  “Perhaps you’d let the _actual_ writer give his thoughts on this?”

“Well, alright then, Ozawa-san,” said Sawada, rolling her eyes.  “What do _you_ think we should do with him?”

“Well, I won’t deny it’s a good idea…” he said, scratching his chin.  “But to get it _just right_ …”

His eyes lit up.  It might be a bit of a cheat, but it _would_ work…

“Let me get back to you on this one,” he told them.  “I think I might have something, but I’d like to go over it with the writing team first.”

“Well then, I think we have another keeper here,” said Fukumoto, beaming.  “Yes, I can see that young man taking his place among the stars here.  Now then, moving on…”

* * *

“And so, the director tells me, ‘Ouma, if you don’t haul ass down that street like I told you in the next five seconds, then so help me you will _never_ work in this business again!’ Now, just to be clear, we’ve got the frigging Hells’ Bells Ogre Gang – and these are _actual_ guys in costume, not CGI – practically breathing down my character’s neck in this scene, and yet I’m supposed to outrun them! You’ve seen me, right? Do I look like the kind of guy who can convincingly gain distance on a pack of monsters?”

Kaito had just arrived in the lobby to find Ouma deep in conversation with a dark-skinned girl that he believed he had noticed him talking to earlier, before his identity had been given away.  Glancing around, Kaito noticed that Bando was nowhere to be seen – either Ouma had convinced him to let him go off on his own, or (more likely) he had given him the slip again.

“Hmm…” mused the dark-skinned girl.  “Angie’s not so sure – you look pretty nimble to her.”

“Well, maybe I slip through their fingers if they weren’t expecting it,” admitted Ouma, “but outrunning them is a different story, and anyway, these guys are supposed to be some of the fastest soldiers in the Dark Arbor Brigade.  There’s no way I can convincingly outrun them in real life, and there’s no way my character should be able to outrun them – it’d just be stupid.  Now, my first instinct is to improvise, but I have nowhere near the clout I’d need to get away with that.  So I decide to make it look like I had an accident - I make it look like I like I just tripped, and as fast as I can, before the director can yell ‘Cut!’, I start begging the Ogres not to hurt me.  I mean, I practically offer to give them the clothes on my back just so they won’t kill me.  I’m _really_ milking it, but the rest of the crew thinks it’s frigging _hilarious_ , so the director decides to roll with it, and just has the Sentai – who were supposed to save me later in the scene – jump in early to save me then.  They ended up using that cut, and it didn’t even affect the runtime!”

Angie giggled.  “They actually let you get away with that?”

“Well, like I said, I made it look like an accident.  The important part, though, was that I needed to make him think that what I had just done was indispensable.  I counted on everyone else finding it so hilarious that he’d have to have been mad not to point it in.  A huge gamble, sure – I could have easily gotten fired,” he said, putting his hands behind his head with a grin, “but in the end, it paid off.”

Just then, Ouma looked to see Kaito approaching them.

“Ah – Momota-chan returns!” he called out, clapping his hands together with apparent anticipation.  “We were wondering what was taking you so long.  I was starting to worry that you wanted to get a head start and bump some people off early.”

Ouma started to laugh, but a quick glare from Angie caused it to die in his throat.

 _Keep talking like that and maybe I should_ , Kaito thought to himself.

Aloud, he said, “What happened to ‘Pencil Beard-chan’?”

Ouma just shrugged.  “Eh, didn’t want it to become a tired bit.  Besides, you’re going to be on Danganronpa now – I need to start treating you with respect, right?”

“Well, if you want to treat me with respect, you won’t call me ‘Momota-chan’ no more.  And where’d this confidence come from?”

“Momota-chan, Momota-chan - don’t tell me _you_ don’t think you’re going to get in?”

“Of course I’m gonna get in!” Kaito said, perhaps just a bit too loudly.  Still, he felt he had the right to be a little pissed off.  This Ouma kid hadn’t been there – what gave him the right to act like he knew exactly what happened?

“See – _there’s_ the confidence you need,” Ouma said as he grinned.  “Honestly, Momota-chan, take it from a professional – you have the face for television.  They’ll get their claws on you as fast as they-”

“Okay, that’s enough, Kokichi,” said Angie.  While her voice was gentle, the girl was no longer smiling, her eyes narrowed at Ouma.  “Angie can tell you’re just trying to get a rise out of him.  Let’s just try to get along, okay?”

Ouma rolled his eyes and sighed.  “Fine, fine.  I get your point.”

Angie smiled again and turned to Kaito.  “Sorry ‘bout that!” she said in a cheerful voice.  “Angie doesn’t think that Kokichi’s a bad person – he just doesn’t really care for a lot of people, so he tries to upset them so they’ll leave him alone.”

“Hey, let’s not give him any weird ideas,” Ouma told her hurriedly.  “Sometimes I just think it’s funny.”

“Angie thinks it would be a lot more fun if we could all just get along!” the girl continued, throwing out her arms while blithely ignoring Ouma.  “Angie actually had a dream the night we all came here – lots of people were with Angie, and we were all in front of this huge door, and when it opened, we all joined hands and stepped through.  Angie isn’t really sure what it means, but right now she thinks it’s a sign! Maybe even a sign from God?  Who can say?  One thing she’s sure about, though, is that we shouldn’t be fighting – it’ll just spoil a good time!”

Kaito just growled.  Annoying little shitheads was one thing, but he was _really_ not in the mood for this kind of preachy kindergarten hippy bullshit.

“Look, I didn’t ask for your fucking help, okay?” he told her while staring directly down into her eyes.  “I don’t want it, and I don’t need it.”

Rather than being intimidated, however, Angie simply cocked her head to the side and stared back up at him; the way she just… _looked_ at him made Kaito feel weak in the knees.

“Angie wonders…” she said softly, “…is Kaito like this because he’s afraid of emotional closeness?  Maybe brought on or accompanied by animosity towards women?”

Behind her, Ouma started to giggle.

“I…FUCK OFF!” Kaito shouted.  “I didn’t ask you to pull this psycho bullshit!”

“What? But no one here’s stabbed a woman in the shower!” said Ouma, clasping his hands to the sides of his face in mock horror.  “Or _have_ they!?”

“Well, Angie tried,” the girl said, turning around to leave.  “Why don’t we go somewhere else, Kokichi?  Angie heard they’re doing karaoke later – she'dd love to sing some songs that don’t get a lot of play here!”

“Sounds interesting,” Ouma told her.  "I think I just might join you."

As Angie left, however, he lingered for just a moment.

“I _thought_ she’d be fun,” he whispered to Kaito conspiratorially.  “And I was right!”

“Yeah, alright, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend,” muttered Kaito.  “Great news.”

Ouma, for whatever reason, looked even more amused by this.

“Hmm…tell me something, Momota-chan.  Why do you think Yonaga – that’s her last name, by the way – would audition for a killing game?”

Kaito blinked.  Truth be told, she _really_ didn’t seem like the type who would sign up for something like this.  Maybe the weird preachy stuff was to lure people into a false sense of security?  No, that didn’t make any sense – they would forget about all of this when the game started anyway.

“I dunno,” Kaito said with a shrug.  “Why?”

Ouma frowned, looking almost disappointed.

“For the same reason _I_ did, of course!”

“Come on, Kokichi, don’t bother him!” Angie called back to him.

“Think it over!” said Ouma, before practically skipping over to join his new friend. 

 _Yeah, I have no clue what’s up with those two_ , Kaito thought to himself.

* * *

“Wait, what th- AAAAH!”

Himiko watched as Tenko flipped her latest “challenger” (or rather, someone in the gym she had approached and abruptly asked to spar with her) to the mat.

“And one…two…three!” Tenko announced gleefully.  “Good try, Akamatsu-san! You were a bit overconfident, though – some karate lessons from a few years ago isn’t going to cut it against an experienced fighter.”

The other girl, an irritated-looking blonde name Akamatsu, got to her feet.

“What was _that_?” she said, glaring at Tenko.  “I wasn’t ready!”

“Tenko will tell you what she tells everyone – you shouldn’t expect people to fight fair in the game, or anywhere, really.  What did that one book series say?  Oh, right - CONSTANT DILIGANCE!”

“That’s not it,” Himiko said from the sidelines.

Tenko grimaced.  From what little she had gotten out of Himiko, she had seemed interested in magic, so she did her best to utilize what little magic-related knowledge she had.  So much for making a connection _there_ …

Akamatsu got to her feet, fuming.

“I can’t believe this.  I thought you just wanted to do some fun thing, but then all of the sudden – WHAM! Who the hell do you think you are?”

“T-Tenko was just trying to show everyone how to fight…” said Tenko, backing away from Akamatsu’s rather intense glare.

“Really?  Because honestly, it seems more like you just want to-”

“Alright, I think that’s enough,” said Akamatsu’s companion, a girl with long brown hair and a serene expression on her face.  “Let’s not start a fight here.  We shouldn’t keep Miu waiting anyway.”

Akamatsu nodded in response, though she kept one eye on Tenko. 

“Right…sorry, Akane.  Let’s just go.”

The two girls swiftly exited the gym, although Akamatsu shot one last glare at Tenko before leaving.  Tenko sighed, and sat down next to Himiko.

“That could have gone better,” she muttered.

Himiko shrugged.  “Eh, she seems high-strung – probably gets self-righteous about everything.  Never liked people like that.”

“Maybe you’re right,” said Tenko, although she didn’t feel reassured.  “Hey…what do you think she was gonna say – about what Tenko really wanted?”

“How should I know?” asked Himiko with another shrug.  “I’m a magician – I’m not psychic.”

Tenko nodded along, though the truth was, she _did_ have a good idea of what Akamatsu was going to say.

_“You just want to throw your weight around!”_

It wouldn’t be the first time she had heard something like that, after all…

Not wanting to dwell on that any longer, she switched gears.

“Wait, did you just say that you’re a magician?” she asked Himiko.  While she had gotten her to talk about her interests _somewhat_ , she hadn’t yet managed to pry this much out of her.

The shorter girl nodded.  “Yeah.  Well, I mean, I dabble…”

“Cool! Do you have any tricks you can show me?”

“Well, I don’t really have anything on me, but…”

Himiko’s eyes scanned the room, before settling on a cushioned stool that was up against the side of the gym wall.

“Hmm…okay, follow me,” she said, making her way over to the stool.  Tenko jumped up and ran after her, curious to see where this was going.

“Sit down here,” Himiko instructed her.  “Put your back against the wall, and keep your hands in your lap.”

Tenko did so, still wondering what Himiko was planning on doing.

“Now then,” said Himiko, holding up her right index finger.  “With the just the magical power contained in this one finger, I will prevent you from standing up.”

Tenko raised an eyebrow.  “Seriously?”

“What, you don’t think I can do it?  Think I’m not big enough for that?”

“Well, Tenko only means that…it’s not that you’re small, it’s that – I mean-”

Himiko smiled.  “Then by all means…”

She lightly pressed her finger against Tenko’s forehead.

“…Stand up.”

Tenko smiled.  She hadn’t expected the trick to rely on restricting her physical strength.  Still, maybe she should just pretend for a little bit – she _had_ asked Himiko to demonstrate, after all, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt her feelings.  She started to lean forward, preparing to fake being restrained…

…only to find that she really couldn’t move.  No matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she strained herself, she found herself completely unable to stand.

“You were saying?” asked Himiko.

Tenko’s mind began to race.  Just what was going on here?  Had Himiko hypnotized her without her realizing it or something?  Were there weight attached to her somehow?  …Could Himiko really have magic powers?

No, no, all of that was ridiculous…at least, she thought so.  That being said…she had to admit, this wasn’t a whole lot of fun – being restrained like this made her feel so...vulnerable.  If there was one thing she hated, it wasn’t being able to fight back.  Not that Himiko was a threat, of course – she trusted her completely.  In any case, in times like this, there was only one thing to do…

“Um…help?” asked Tenko, smiling sheepishly.

Himiko removed her finger, and Tenko found herself able to stand again.  As she did so, she glanced that the stool she had been sitting on, and saw that it was effectively a solid block – there was no room for her to put her feet under it.

_Oh, I get it! It’s all about the center of gravity!_

Normally, when a person stands up, they lean forward and move their feet under them, changing their center of gravity.  If they’re not able to do this, then the slightest amount of pressure makes it almost impossible to stand.  A lot of people wouldn’t normally notice this, but Tenko had become quite familiar with how center of gravity worked while practicing aikido.  She couldn’t believe she didn’t realize this sooner…or, maybe she could – there _was_ something very appealing about Himiko.  Speaking of which, she didn’t want to ruin this for her…

“Holy crap, how did you do that?” Tenko asked, trying her best to sound mystified. 

Himiko stared at her for a moment, then just giggled and shook her head.

“A magician never reveals her secrets.”

* * *

It had taken a few hours, but Kirumi was finally feeling well enough to make her way down to the dining hall and get something to eat.  While she could have easily simply ordered from her room, she hated being cooped up in one place, and knew that it would be best if she stretched her legs every now and then.  She had ended up missing the opportunity to have lunch, so she would have to skip to dinner instead.  Oh well – she had always felt that lunch was basically a lighter dinner anyway.  She could probably do without it every now and then.

(She kept telling herself this even as she felt her stomach rumble for the fifth time since she woke up from her nap.)

Once she had finished selecting her dinner – plain rice with a small side of pork – she walked over to find a table, preferably one where she could dine alone.  She could hear the whispers, feel the stares on her back – no doubt word had spread about her earlier incident.

Unfortunately, there didn’t appear to be any unoccupied tables – indeed, the dining room was very busy at the moment.  Maybe she could bring her dinner to her room?  No, that probably wasn’t allowed…

“Excuse me, are you looking for a place to sit?”

Kirumi turned around to see a table that was probably the least occupied.  There was only one person sitting there, a tall, rail-thin boy with long, dark hair.  He wore a black surgical mask that at the moment was pulled down from his mouth so that he could eat, revealing a rather feminine appearance.  She had to admit, he gave off a rather…foreboding feeling about him, although why that was, she wasn’t sure.  Maybe it was his eyes – they seemed to have a sort of shadow around them that made her instinctively want to turn away.

“I promise you, I don’t bite,” he said in a soft, smooth voice that sent a chill down her spine.  “If you don’t want to sit here, that’s fine – you just seemed rather lost, that’s all.”

Kirumi was tempted to say “No thanks”, but as she forced himself to at least look the boy in the eye, she noticed something different about him – while everyone else seemed to stare at her with either amusement or pity (maybe even both), his gaze was…normal, really.  And really, it’s not like it could be worse than sitting anywhere else.

“Thank you,” she said, taking a seat across from him.  “That’s very kind of you.”

“It’s no trouble,” he told her.  “My name’s Korekiyo Shinguji.  May I ask for yours, or would you rather keep it to yourself?”

“Oh, no, that’s fine,” she found herself saying, not really sure why she was willing to be so open with him.  “I’m Kirumi Tojo.”

Shinguji nodded, continuing to eat his ramen.

“I hope I haven’t frightened you,” he said in between bites.  “I’ve been told that my appearance is…unsettling to some people.”

“Oh, n-no, not at all!” she lied, though not very well – his eyes narrowed slightly, and she heard him give a small sigh.

“Well, it really doesn’t bother me too much these days,” he said, taking a small sip of water.  “I’ve long since stopped caring about what people think about what I look like or how I dress.  What we choose to do with our lives is far more important that what other people think about us, isn’t it?”

“I…don’t know about that,” she muttered.  If this guy was able to ignore what everyone else thought about him, good for him – but _his_ insides weren’t giving him a constant reminder of what everyone thought about him.

_Is he trying to make fun of me?_

“Ah, I’m terribly sorry – I can be terribly insensitive sometimes,” Shinguji said, frowning.  “Talking to people isn’t really one of my strong suites.  Obviously, one can’t just flip a switch and not care about what other people think.  Personally, I’d say that it helps to have a friend that you can trust – in my experience, people tend to leave you alone when you’re _not_ alone.”

Kirumi studied Shinguji’s face.  It was difficult to get a read on in – he barely changed his expression, and he always maintained the same even tone in his voice with only the smallest inflections, but if she was right…then he was being completely sincere.  He wasn’t making fun of her, he was trying to _help_ her.

Which was even worse, of course.

“Listen, I’d…rather not talk about this, okay?” she told him, trying her best not to sound too offended.

Shinguji nodded.  “Again, I apologize.  Shall we eat in silence, then?”

“Yes, let’s.”

And so they did.

* * *

“Applicant 228! Tenko Chabashira!”

“Crap!” said Tenko, who was right in the middle of eating her dinner.  She quickly slurped down the rest of her ramen, then turned to Himiko, who was quietly eating her sandwich with a surprising amount of decorum.

“Right, so, Tenko has to get going now,” she told the shorter girl.  “Should she meet up with Yumeno-san after she’s done, or…?”

Himiko yawned.  “Actually, it’s getting kind of late,” the magician told her.  “I was thinking I’d hit the hay – I need my beauty sleep, you know?”

“Oh, of course, Tenko understands!” said Tenko, nodding eagerly.  “Do you want to meet up tomorrow?”

_Pleasesayyespleasesayyespleasesayyespleasesayyesplease-_

“Yeah, that’s sounds fine.  I’ll be here tomorrow morning, if you wanna hang out for a bit or something.”

Tenko resisted the urge to pump her fist in the air, instead choosing to simply smile and nod.

“Then Tenko will see you then!”

Waving goodbye, she rushed out of the dining hall with a new spring in her step, and without breaking stride, walked up to the security guard, presented her ticket, and walked straight through the audition room doors.  She saw the man she presumed to be the interviewer sitting at a table nearby, taking a long sip of coffee.

“Ah, evening!” he said, putting down his cup.  “Name’s Goro Hagiwara! Can I get your name and number, please?”

Tenko didn’t say anything, taking the moment to study him for a bit.  He seemed alright, but he reminded her of Momota somehow – the way he talked, she thought.  Still, there wasn’t any reason to get mad at him just yet.  Besides, she had to make sure she didn’t hurt her chances.

“Tenko Chabashira, Number 228!”

“Alright, great.  Now, Chabashira-san – what do you like about Danganronpa?”

“Oh, Tenko loves all the badass girls!” she said without hesitation.  “Like Ogami, Ikusaba, Pekoyama, Kimura, Yukizome, Miyake, Minamoto… Honestly, if there’s one thing that’s been missing lately, it’s that the girls haven’t really been getting their time to shine in action scenes! Tenko’s tired off all the gross boys hogging the limelight there! Sure, Amami’s…nice, but Tenko _hated_ that Itonashi was always cowering behind him – she was practically wallpaper!”

Hagiwara smiled, although Tenko thought it looked noticeably plastered on.

“Well, the important part’s the Class Trials, right?” he said somewhat pointedly.  “I think we’ve done pretty well with the ladies on that front.  Not to mention, some pretty vicious killers among them…”

Yeah, this guy was like Momota, alright – he was trying to brush her off.  Well then, if he was going to play that way…

“Maybe, yeah, but they’re still not really assertive!” she told him, looking him right in the eye.  “Tenko would really like to see more badass girls – who are _heroic_ , not just creepy villains like Ashikaga from the last season – and she knows other girls who’d agree.”

Shit, was she being too forward here?  True, she had always wanted to vent like this, but maybe now wasn’t…

“Hey, hey, I understand!” said Hagiwara, who was looking pretty flustered at this.  “I totally get what you’re coming from.  Hell, I’ve got a thing for those kinds of chicks myself.”

_…Why did he have to say that?_

“I…t-that’s not really…I mean, sure, but…”

Tenko couldn’t do much more than blush and stammer.  She _did_ have to admit, in every season, there was always a girl that caught her attention.  Kotone Katsuki, Season 50’s Ultimate Figure Skater (and also, incidentally, the Ultimate Survivor in Season 51), was the biggest one in recent memory – she had cried all night when she was executed.  Of course, there was no one who could replace Sonia Nevermind for her – her regal presence dominating the room, her kind yet commanding voice stirring her soul.  She could picture herself kneeling before her, and she’d put a tender hand on her head, bending down and whispering in her ear and she really hoped that Hagiwara would say something soon, she would very much prefer to finish this train of thought in private.

Thankfully, he did.

“Alright, let’s move on,” he said hastily.  “So, if I’m getting this right, _you_ want to play a heroic, badass girl?”

Tenko nodded.  She knew she came across as a jerk sometimes – she could be _way_ too aggressive.  But she legitimately did want to turn herself around.  She hadn’t been having much success, but maybe – just maybe – Danganronpa would allow her to become the version of herself that she had always wanted to be.  It certainly wouldn’t hurt if other people started seeing her as that person either…

“Okay, great!” said Hagiwara.  “So…do you have an Ultimate Talent in mind for that?”

“Well…”

Should she go with it?  This _was_ supposed to be a reinvention, but then again, it was something she was good at, and she did want to try to stay true to herself.  And she _had_ started to take an interest in martial arts after seeing some stuff with Sakura Ogami…

_Aw, what the hell?_

“...Tenko _is_ pretty good at aikido.  Maybe something with that?”

Hagiwara nodded.

“Perfect, perfect!  You know, I don’t think we’ve had one of those before – you might be the first.”

Tenko couldn’t help but grin heartily.  What could she say?  It wasn’t every day that someone had first claim to something on a show as long running on Danganronpa.

“Now then, you mentioned you wanted to be heroic, so I doubt you want to be a culprit… I’m guessing you’re hoping to be a survivor!”

Tenko nodded.  Of course she wanted to be a survivor – there wasn’t much point in entering otherwise, was there?

Although…if she could be remembered as the way she wanted to be…no, she needed to think more positively than that.  Life was about more than how people remembered her, after all.

Oh right, that reminded her…

“Anyway, I believe that’s everything,” Hagiwara told her.  “So if you could just come over here and sign this contract, you’ll be ready to go.  If you’re selected, we’ll contact you within a month, and we’ll go into further detail then.”

“Alright, great,” said Tenko, wondering how to broach the next topic.  “Now, I…um…”

“Something wrong, Chabashira-san?”

“Well, it’s just that…Tenko knows that it’s not really her place to ask this, but…well, she’s just worried that with so many applicants, the people who come later will end up getting overlooked…”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that!” Hagiwara said with a laugh.  “We always try to give everyone a fair shake.  Besides, it’s not like the slots fill up quickly, if you know what I mean.  Why, you got someone you’re hoping to get in?”

“Oh, well, yeah, kinda…” Tenko said, hoping she could find the words.  “She’s just really cool and nice…and she seemed pretty confident that she’d get in, and…well, it’d just suck if she didn’t at least have a fair shot, especially since her mom works here and all.  If Tenko’s remembering it right, she’s supposed to go _last_ , actually.”

Hagiwara’s smiled became fixed again, except this time his face noticeably paled.

“Last?” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.  “Really?  And…her mom works here, huh?”

“Oh yeah! Yeah, her name’s Him-”

“Okay, I think that’s all the time we have for you, Chabashira-san!” Hagiwara said hurriedly.  “Please exit through that door over there, and have a nice evening.”

“Oh, but-”

“Now, please,” he said through gritted teeth.  “You’re holding up the line.”

Tenko, who did not normally react well to rudeness, was rather cowed by the sudden shift in mood.  She politely thanked Hagiwara, and then hurried to the exit, hoping that whatever she had said wrong, she hadn’t accidentally screwed anyone over, especially Himiko and herself.

* * *

Yumeno was rarely the first to speak up after an audition – instead, she usually preferred to listen to what others had to say before giving her thoughts.  It was an instinct she had developed as a lawyer, Ozawa knew – she had always felt it was better for someone to dig their grave before she pushed them in.

Now, however, her silence was more apparent than ever – she silently tapped the desk in front of her, never taking her eyes off the spot where Chabashira had been standing.  Even Fukumoto said nothing, instead wanting to see what would come next.

Finally, Mukai spoke up.

“Are…are you alright, Yumeno-san?”

Yumeno immediately turned her head towards Mukai who flinched.  Indeed, everyone in the room winced slightly, bracing themselves...

Then, Yumeno did something that none of them expected – she smiled.

“I’m quite alright, Mukai,” she told the psychologist.  “I was simply…reflecting.  I don’t believe I’ll have any commentary to offer with this one, I’m afraid – please proceed without me.”

Everyone nodded slowly, then waited a few more seconds for someone to speak up.  Finally, Idabashi decided to take the initiative.

“Well, aikido shouldn’t be too difficult to program, especially if she’s already experienced in it.  It will simply be building on the established skill base – my team should have an easy time with that.”

“That certainly is good news,” said Kagawa.  “However, I do have some concerns that I would like to bring to our attention, if only as a general caution.”

“And what would those be?” asked Fukumoto.

Kagawa took out his tablet and pulled up a digital copy of Chabashira’s file on it.

“It’s a touch lengthy, but to summarize, Chabashira has acquired the reputation of being something of a delinquent, having started several fights with others her age, particularly boys,” he said as he read through the file.  “Of particular note is an incident from approximately 2 years ago, where she had a violent altercation with two boys who were harassing a friend of hers.  She had threatened them to leave the girl alone, and when they refused, she attacked them rather viciously.  Both Chabashira and the two boys were injured – Chabashira’s left arm was badly sprained, while one of the boys received several facial lacerations, and the other had his nose broken; all three of them required medical treatment afterwards, obviously.  Despite this, no disciplinary action was taken by the school – it seems that Chabashira’s parents made arrangements with them to deal with the matter privately, and the boys were simply too embarrassed to have been beaten by a girl in a two-on-one fight to press the issue.  Still, I understand that Chabashira’s parents were very displeased, and sought a way to discipline her.  In the end, they found the best way was to enroll her in aikido lessons, which does seemed to have helped somewhat.  Regardless, she is still known to be rather aggressive, and this has translated to having few friends.”

Kagawa finished reading and glanced at Fukumoto.

“It’s nothing particularly egregious, of course,” he admitted.  “Not by our standards.  Still, since you requested I keep an eye out for potential problem cases, I thought I ought to let you know.”

“I see,” said Fukumoto, nodding.  “And you’re worried that someone like her could intimidate our investors?"

“She may pose some risk there, yes,” Kagawa confirmed.  “We are, after all, in a somewhat precarious position – I would discourage individuals that could send the wrong message.”

“And _I_ think you worry too much,” Sawada chimed in.  “There’s an easy solution to think.  You saw her – she _wants_ to be a good guy.  With her, we’d simply be doing what we’ve always been doing – letting them be the people they want to be.  And what could be more true to that than aiding in a troubled young lady’s reformation?”

“Was she sincere about that, though?” retorted Kagawa.  “Or was she just saying what she thought we wanted to here?”

“I think she was sincere,” said Mukai.  “Her general demeanor was…earnest.  Exceedingly so, actually – I don’t think she’s really capable of deception, that one.”

Ozawa nodded slowly.  Mukai was right – Chabashira definitely wasn’t a liar – it would take a considerable alteration to her personality to make her one, and really, if there were better candidates available for that, why bother?

No, he could see a much more promising niche for her, one that her personality would lend itself much more naturally towards.  Of course, he was hardly pleased by _every_ aspect of her personality (really, they had cast the girls they thought would be the best – it wasn’t _his_ fault that most of them lent themselves better to a supporting role), but those could easily be worked into her character as well.  Something Koizumi inspired, maybe?  Yes, he liked that idea…it could work very well indeed…

There was, of course, a question of how much he could get away with – he knew that Sawada and Kagawa would urge him to avoid rattling their more conservative sponsors.  Still, he wasn’t too worried on that front – if none too explicit aired and none of it was endgame, pretty much anything could happen in the game.

“Very well then, we’re almost finished for the night,” said Fukumoto.  “Let’s get this over with so that we can all get some rest.”

Okawa took the moment to reflect on the past couple of days.  He had sensed the usual boredom that took root in the room for the vast majority of the auditions, but he had also noticed that when an applicant _did_ catch their eyes, there was a definite feeling of excitement.  Already, he had quite a few locks on his personal picks that set his mind awash with possibilities, and if he could get some more who were just as could, he was sure he could craft something truly legendary.

Yes, if the stars aligned (appropriate, considering the plot this season), people would be talking about Season 53 for years.

* * *

_["We come from the land of the ice and snow](https://youtu.be/y8OtzJtp-EM?t=56) _

_From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow_

_How soft your fields so green_

_Can whisper tales of gore_

_Of how we calmed the tides of war_

_We are your overlords…”_

The idea of karaoke night had started fairly simply – Tsumugi had thought it would be a fun activity for applicants with nothing better to do, so she had suggested it to Fukumoto, who had a few Team Danganronpa staffers had set up a machine in a side room.  Interest was rather tepid at first, but it quickly became quite popular.  Artists like Led Zeppelin wouldn’t have been many people’s first choice, but Angie Yonaga, having quickly proven herself to be the best singer, had managed to convince the employee running the machine to play a few songs that weren’t quite as popular in Japan as the usual fare.

Tsumugi and a few of the applicants had been skeptical, but Harukawa heartily endorsed the idea, which won over a few of the doubters, and once Angie began to sing a few of those songs as well, everyone else was eventually won over.  Sure, not everyone was familiar with them, but everyone was having a blast, with Angie being asked to do an encore more than once – at the present, she was doing her rendition of “Immigrant Song”.

 _“On we sweep with threshing oar…_ ”

 _“Our only goal will be the western shore!_ ” Tsumugi and Harukawa finished, before squealing with glee (Saihara, feeling drained from his audition, had decided to go to bed early).

“Oh my God, that was great!” said Harukawa as Angie finished the song.

“I know, right?” said Tsumugi.  “I don’t think I’ve had this much fun since…um…”

The honest statement here was “two nights ago”, but saying that might raise some awkward questions, like where she was during the opening ceremony.  And if this day had taught her anything, it was that it was best to avoid awkward questions.

Fortunately, the need to answer this question was removed when the speakers crackled to life.

“Auditions have concluded for today.  They will resume tomorrow at 9:30 AM, starting from Ticket Number 241.  Curfew will be at 10 PM – please return to your rooms before then.  Thank you very much, and have a pleasant evening.”

“Well, I guess I’ll turn in for the night,” said Harukawa.  “Same time tomorrow?”

Tsumugi smiled.  “Absolutely! See you then, Haru-chan!”

They bid each other farewell, and then Harukawa left to head back to her room.  Tsumugi waited a few minutes for the rest of the applicants present to leave (Angie voicing her disappointment that she couldn’t sing just one more song), and then she stood up, left the room, and walked in the opposite direction of where the others were headed.  Not to head to her room, of course – while she did normally sleep in the rooms assigned to overnight employees which was situated in the main wing of the complex, she was currently staying in the hotel with the normal applicants, in order to avoid drawing suspicion to herself.

No, she was here because about an hour ago, she had received a text instructing her to report to the observation room where the department heads monitored the audition process.  Needless to say, this didn’t exactly fill her with confidence.

_Have I done something wrong?  Has someone recognized me?  No, that can’t be it – nobody would pay an ounce to attention to me._

Was she sure about that, though?  After all, she _had_ been paying quite a bit of attention to Harukawa and Saihara…

No, that didn’t make any sense – she hadn’t detected a signal note of recognition in their faces.  But if it wasn’t that, then why…?

Lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t realized that she had arrived at the observation room until she heard the words, “I trust you’ve had a pleasant day, Shirogane?”

Tsumugi gave a start as she saw Yoshiro Kagawa, Team Danganronpa's chief financial officer, standing just outside the observation room.  He appeared to be the only person there, and he only had one eye on her, with the other studying his tablet.

“O-oh…hello, Kagawa-san, sir!” she said, swiftly bowing to him.  “Um, yes, I’ve been just fine.  I’ve always loved the audition process – it’s very exciting.”

Kagawa nodded, though his expression remained impassive.

“Indeed.  Now then, let’s get straight to the point – I understand you’ve been spending quite a bit of time with Maki Harukawa and Shuichi Saihara?”

Ah, of course.  She knew that she should have divided her time more evenly, but she deluded herself into thinking it could work out, and now she was about to pay the price for it.

“I-I’m dreadfully sorry, Kagawa-san!” she said, hanging her head in shame.  “I…I thought it would allow me the chance to observe the applicant more effectively i-if I was accompanied by a group of friends.  If you want me to separate myself from them, I can-”

Kagawa held out a hand, halting her in mid-sentence.

“Please, it’s quite alright,” he told her.  “I think it’s a perfectly valid method, so long as you don’t forget the task at hand.”

A wave of relief washed over her.  So she wouldn’t have to abandon Mak- _Harukawa_ after all.

“No,” Kagawa continued, “what I want to know is this: what do you think of Shuichi Saihara?”

Oh.  _This_ was unexpected.  What _did_ she think of Saihara?

_“Don’t worry,” she whispered into his ear.  “You’ll get in – I’ll promise you that.”_

That…was certainly one place to start.

“He, um…” she hesitated, unsure how to phrase this.  “Well, to start with, he seemed…upset about how his audition went.”

Kagawa’s eyes narrowed.

“Did he, now?  How so?”

“Well…he didn’t want to talk about it much…but I think he thought he had been a…disappointment?  Like he wasn’t able to make Ikehara care about him...like he wasn’t…cut out to be an Ultimate…”

Kagawa nodded slowly, quickly making a note on his tablet.

“I see, I see… And do _you_ think he is?”

 _Oh come on! What am I supposed to say to_ that?

“I…with all due respect, Kagawa-san, couldn’t he just have his personality rewritten to make him one?”

“Television’s television, Shirogane,” Kagawa chided her.  “If it were that simple, we wouldn’t bother holding auditions.  He needs _something_ in order to make the cut.  What I want to know is if you think he has that something.”

Well, it _was_ her job, although she usually had more time to prepare a recommendation.  For a moment, she thought she’d have to ask for more time, but before she knew it, everything came spilling out.

“I know he’s not the most exciting guy in the world, or the most confident, or anything like that.  But he’s _earnest_ – I really do think he’s here because he wants to be on the show more than anything!  Some of the people here only care about the money, or the fame, but Saihara’s here because he _cares_ about Danganronpa – he might not be the biggest _fan_ , but he _cares_! When he came out of the audition, he was so upset, I could practically _feel_ the pain in his heart! He might not be the most impressive applicant we’ll get, but we can work with that – we can help to build him up! And isn’t that what this is all about – letting people be who they want to be?”

“Let’s just cut to the chase, then,” said Kagawa, still impassive.  “You think that he should be on Season 53?”

Well, she had stuck his neck out this far for him – might as well go all the way.

“Yes,” she said, giving Kagawa a firm nod.  “I really do.”

“Thank you,” he said, making one final note on his tablet before turning to leave.  “That will be all, Shirogane.  Good night, and remember – stick to the task at hand.”

With that, he walked off, leaving Shirogane to ponder what had just occurred.  Why Kagawa had developed a specific interest in Saihara was the least of her worries – she was more concerned about why she had gotten so…invested just now.

 _Why did I say all of that?  I didn’t need to go_ that _far, going on about how I could feel the pain in his heart.  I’m just supposed to observe.  I didn’t do any of this last time…_

Of course, last time, she hadn’t actually participated in the Killing Game before.  She hadn’t planned out much for herself – a quiet girl who mostly existed for other people to explain stuff to, which was perfect for someone meant to observe.  Her talent as the Ultimate Actor had mostly been a cheeky hint at a revelation that would never come – she hadn’t written it expecting it to actually come up.  And the only real relationship she had written for herself was for Rantaro to take a liking to her, protecting her from the more dangerous students.

But the thing about Danganronpa was that only so much was set in stone from the beginning – once the killing game actually began, things got a lot more interesting.  She hadn’t expected, for example, to be a key witness in the first murder, to the point where the deciding evidence was her testimony.  She hadn’t expected her to become part of a scheme to expose a culprit that had escaped justice due to the “First Come, First Served” rule by stealing an plot device from _Hamlet_ \- performing a play imitating the suspected murder method to guilt the culprit into confessing (of course, the culprit instead ended up committing suicide, necessitating a whole new trial, but she was glad that she was able to have a concrete impact on the plot regardless).  And she hadn’t expecting her friendship with Rantaro to slowly make its way towards becoming something more, to the point to where he was entirely willing to die with her.

(Though she had hardly the only one attracted to him – Rantaro had gained the reputation of something of a heartthrob in the 51st season, to the point that a majority of the girls – along with a few of the guys – were written as being attracted to him, which a few of them had even requested in their auditions.  And of course, the fact Rantaro was the only boy of the five people to make it to the final trial – including the mastermind – led to the latter part of the series being dubbed “Amami and His Harem” by several sects of fandom.)

But that was ages ago - well, about a month ago, actually, but relatively speaking, that was a long time in Danganronpa terms.  She hadn’t been allowed to see Rantaro or the other survivors after Season 52 had ended, and even if she had been, she had been swept up in the production of Season 53 so fast that she probably wouldn’t have even had the time.  Yes, she still recalled – and treasured – her time on Season 52, but the feelings had faded considerably in the avalanche of work.

So…why was she feeling so strongly _now_ , before the season had even started?

Then she remembered the joy Maki had displayed on stage, rushing up to hug her when she was still dressed as Junko.  And how she in turn had initiated the hug with Shuichi, when she had clearly seen that he was overcome with…despair.

Hope and Despair.

Could it really be that simple?

Almost effortlessly, she brought forth from her mind a quote from an old favorite…

_"I love everyone here. That's why I want to be of good use to them. I love all of the Ultimates...and I admire them for being symbols of hope. That's right... In the name of hope, I love everyone's talents from the bottom of my heart. That's why... I don't want them to lose against something like killing. I want them to prove to me that hope will never lose, no matter how daunting the despair they face may seem. I want everyone to prove to me that ‘hope will never lose to despair’!”_

Yes…YES! Of course, it all made sense now! This was more than just a job – she was more than just an observer! She was a shepherd of Hope – it was her _duty_ to make sure that it was able to shine as bright as possible, that it didn’t to give way to Despair before the killing game began! And yes, then it would be her duty to do her best to crush that Hope utterly, but didn’t that just meant that they would shine even brighter when they overcame her?  And even as she conspired to destroy them, wouldn’t she still do her best to make sure they didn’t give into Despair prematurely, just as she was doing now?

She wanted to laugh – oh, how stupid she’d been! No wonder she had been drawn to Harukawa and Saihara - their Hopes were so incredibly strong, perhaps even as strong as Rantaro’s.  She would not allow Saihara to Despair just yet – there was still so much for him to do!

Yes, she thought to herself as she made her back to her room, she could see it now – Harukawa and Saihara would be joining Rantaro at the center of Danganronpa this season.  And besides them…who knew?  Angie Yonaga, maybe?  That jerk Momota?  Perhaps they would even be lucky enough to ensnare the great Kokichi Ouma?  The future was a blank canvas laid out before them, and all they had to do was fill it in.  She would be the key stepping stone on the path to their Hope – their guide to the Ultimate glory.

That’s why she was there, after all.

* * *

_???????? Theatre_

**_Oooooooh, I am a Shadooooow…The truuuue seeeeeelf!_ **

_Shut up._

**_Hey, hey, that’s not how it goes – you’re supposed to shout “NO, YOU’RE NOT ME!” or some shit like that, and then you faint or something and your friends come in and oooooooooh right, sorry about that.  I totally forgot that you don’t have any friends! You just have a sister that only cares for you out of a sense of familial obligation.  My condolences._ **

_Shut.  Up._

**_Still, not hard to see why they abandoned you, amiright?  You took all of their creations and let Fukumoto and his flunkies twist them into…what did You-Know-Who call it on the news the other day?  Not gonna lie,_ ** **that _really stung._**

_…_

**_Of course, nobody will actually say anything about_ ** **you _.  How could you have known, right?  But we both know you could see the writing on the wall – you just closed your eyes whenever you walked past it._**

_“Sis, I think I need to talk to you again!”_

_“Okay, be right there!”_

**_You can silence me, but you can’t silence the truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuth…_  **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, no points for guessing whose quote Tsumugi remembered there.
> 
> I snuck in another reference with a certain character's name, although I only used the last name and their talent, not their first name or their gender - it's not meant to be the same character, in other words, merely a nod. It's from an anime that I haven't actually seen yet, but I'd like to when I have the time.
> 
> As mentioned, the song I had Angie sing was "Immigrant Song", by Led Zeppelin You can think Thor: Ragnarok for putting it in my head, although that's not the reason I used it. I linked to the portion of the song that I used here, but if you listen to the whole thing, maybe you can figure out why I went with it...
> 
> Anyway, Happy New Year, everybody! Please leave a comment below and tell me what you think!


	8. More Money, Exponentially More Problems

**Auditions - Day 3**

When Tsumugi awoke the next day, she was filled with vigor.  It wasn’t that she hadn’t been energized before, of course - she was always happy to work on Danganronpa in whatever way was required of her, and she had particularly enjoyed playing Junko and hanging out with Harukawa and Saihara.  But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like it had been more of a job before now - or more aptly, a performance.  One she had enjoyed, sure, but still only a role she had been playing.  Even last season, when she was actually on the show and felt like more a part of Danganronpa than ever before, she realized now that she had still merely been an actor, even more than the rest of them – not only had it been her Ultimate Talent, but she had been the only one who hadn’t been in any danger.  She felt so silly now – like a child who thought that just because they had starred in a school play meant that they were a Shakespearean actor.

Things were so much clearer now – this wasn’t just a job, this was a higher calling.  Granted, this would probably have had a bit more gravitas to it if she had realized it last season, but she supposed that was show business – you had to take them as them came.

 _And besides_ , she told herself, _how could you possibly have known what this would mean?  Does an ant know what it means to soar like an eagle?  Just be thankful that you’ve finally been enlightened._

She had just finished getting dressed when her phone started to ring.  Curious to see who was calling this early, she looked at the caller I.D. and gasped in mild horror, before immediately answering.

“Shirogane here!” she said, as clearly as possible.

“Ah, wonderful, you’re awake,” came the unmistakable voice of Suzume Yumeno.  “I trust that you’re dressed?”

“Yes, Yumeno-san, ma’am, I had just finished getting ready,” said Tsumugi.  This was extremely unusual – Yumeno hardly ever made calls like this, often delegating them to an aide or someone else suitably low in the Team Danganronpa hierarchy (while Tsumugi’s importance had grown within the last year or so, she knew that she still wasn’t considered important enough by most of the other department heads to deal with directly.  She only had regular interactions with Ozawa, Sawada and lately Fukumoto, who had taken a personal shine to her).

“Excellent,” said Yumeno.  “Now then, you’ll be continuing with your monitoring of the applicants today, yes?”

“Yes, Yumeno-san.”

“Good.  I would like you to continue to do so as you have been over the past two days, in addition to another task I have for you.  Do you understand?”

“I…yes, Yumeno-san,” said Tsumugi, somewhat taken aback by this.  What could she possibly need her to do?

“Good.  Now listen carefully – I want you to monitor my daughter Himiko’s activities.”

… _Oh_.

“Keep a close eye on her,” continued Yumeno.  “Find out who she interacts with and what she does with them, then report back to me.  Please be discreet – she knows you on sight.”

True, that could be an issue – Tsumugi had known Himiko ever since they were children, after all.  Granted, they had never been _friends_ – Tsumugi had always been fascinated with Danganronpa, whereas Himiko had always seemed surprisingly indifferent towards it, considering who her mother was – she preferred to spend her time practicing magic tricks, which had always seemed dreadfully boring by comparison.  Obviously, this had changed now, since she was auditioning, but Tsumugi knew that Himiko was unlikely to have forgotten her, and even more unlikely to be fooled if they “just happened” to keep running into each other – if nothing else, she was remarkably perceptive.

“Do not tell anyone about this request,” said Yumeno, her voice cutting straight through Tsumugi’s thoughts.  “This is…a personal matter – there’s no need to trouble any of the others with it.  Understood?”

Tsumugi wondered why she needed secrecy – was Yumeno overstepping her bounds with this?  How could that be?  Surely there wasn’t anything _wrong_ with wanting someone to keep an eye on your daughter.

Of course, she didn’t say any of this _out loud_.

“Understood, Yumeno-san.”

“Good,” said Yumeno.  Then, her voice softening, she said, “I wouldn’t normally trouble you with this, Shirogane, but you can blend in better than the security staff can, and you know how to keep a secret.  You won’t need to do this for long - approximately two hours of observation should be more than sufficient.”

Tsumugi blushed with pride.  If she had needed any more proof in the impact of her new role, this was it.

“Thank you very much, Yumeno-san!” she said eagerly.  “I promise, I won’t let you down.”

“See that you don’t,” said Yumeno, and with that she hung up.

Tsumugi took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come.  The new, profound sense of importance aside, all of this was still intensely nerve-wracking for her.  Still, the Mastermind couldn’t flinch – she had to throw back her head and laugh, even in the face of certain death.

 _From here on out, every day’s going to be a test,_ she told herself as she walked out of her room.   _You’ve come this far – there’s no way you can fail now!_

And really, if she did…well, where would she _go_?

* * *

“You think you might want to slow down, Gonta?  Keep going like that, you’re gonna get sick.”

Gonta looked down at his plate, which was still piled high with food, then back at Hoshi, who was staring at him expectantly.

“I’m hungry,” was all he could offer as he took another massive bite of his breakfast.  “Besides, I know I’m not the only one here who needs food when they get nervous.”

 _And it’s definitely better than_ other _outlets_ , he thought to himself.

“Maybe,” said Hoshi with a sigh.  “But eat too much, and you’re going to be stuck in the bathroom for hours.  No point in risking missing your audition.”

“I only have an hour until I have to go,” Gonta shot back.  “I think I can afford to indulge a bit.  I mean, the food’s _free_ , right?  When was the last time I could afford this much?”

He didn’t like to dwell on it a lot, but it was true.  For most of his life, it had just been him and his mom, after all, and the older he had gotten, the more he had needed to eat.  He had felt obliged to get a part time job as soon as he was old enough to help take the some of the load off of her back, but even then, that only did so much, and there wasn’t a lot he was able to do.  And of course, his temper hadn’t helped…

Now…well, whatever happened would happen.  All he could really do now was do his best here, and enjoy whatever time he would end up having.  He supposed it beat starving or leeching off Hoshi and his aunt.  Assuming he got in, of course.

“Well, alright,” Hoshi told him.  “Just…pace yourself, alright?  It’d suck if you got sick either way.”

“Yes, Hoshi,” Gonta said with a sigh.  He supposed he should be thankful – 10 years they’d known each other, and Hoshi had always been at his side.  In fact, they were close enough that Gonta could probably have just called him “Ryoma”, but he knew that his friend preferred “Hoshi”.

“It gives me some distance,” he had told Gonta once.  And yeah – if anyone needed distance, it was Hoshi.

“Are you kidding me?  Seriously, that’s _way_ too much!”

Gonta felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck as heat began to well up in his skull and a ringing sound began to fill his ears.  Hoshi was one thing – he could take anything from Hoshi – but who the hell had the right to judge-

“Can you just mind your own business for a bit, Kaede?  I’m hungry, and I’m gonna eat, ‘kay?”

Oh.  Nevermind then.

“I’m just saying, you should watch your figure a little, Miu,” said a blonde-haired girl to her sister, who had similar, longer hair.  “If they pick you, they’re going to want to do photoshoots and stuff like that before the season starts – you should probably avoid putting on a few pounds, is all I’m saying.”

“Oh really?” said Miu, and Gonta took a sharp breath as he realized that she was the same girl he had literally run into the first day of auditions.  “So _you’re_ allowed to put on fat, but _I’ve_ got to be rail thin?”

“H-hey, that’s not fair!” Kaede responded, flustered, and to be fair, Gonta thought, her waist was only slightly larger than her sister’s, if that.  “I was just trying to...um…”

Her eyes wandered around the dining hall for a moment, before coming to a rest on Gonta and Hoshi, who was valiantly attempting to pretend he couldn’t hear them.

 _Oh shit, please don’t come over_ , Gonta silently begged.   _Please don’t come over, please don’t-_

“Oh hey, it’s you guys! Miu, remember these guys?”

_Figures._

Gonta sighed with resignation - well, at least they were on somewhat friendly terms now, apparently.  Then he saw Miu eying him nervously, and felt ashamed - his feelings were hardly the only ones that mattered, after all.

“Hey,” he said to her as gently as he could manage.  “Sorry again about the other day - that was totally my fault.”

Miu just shook her head.

“Don’t apologize,” she told him.  “That’s over and done with.  Besides, it’s not like _you_ were the one who made a huge deal about it…”

She shot a quick glare at Kaede, who grinned nervously and averted her eyes.

“So!” the shorter-haired Akamatsu said in blatant, if greatly desired attempt to change the subject.  “Have either of you guys had your auditions yet?”

Hoshi shook his head.

“Not yet.  I don’t go until tomorrow, and Gonta still has about an hour before his.  What about you two?”

“Oh yeah, we had ours on the first day!” Said Kaede, now beaming with cheer.  “And I don’t mean to brag-” (Gonta saw Miu roll her eyes) “-but I think I just might have aced it! Anyway, right now our friend’s doing hers, and once she’s finished, we’ll be able to leave whenever we want!  Oh, but we’ll probably still stick around until the end - that should be fun!”

Hoshi nodded.

“You two are lucky that you got to go so early,” he told them.  “I’ll bet that all the slots will have been filled by tomorrow.”

“I’ve told you, Hoshi, we don’t have any way of knowing that!” said Gonta.  He wouldn’t have normally argued with him, being well-acquainted with his friends pessimistic attitude, but in this case, he wanted to make sure that Hoshi didn’t think his efforts had been for nothing.

“Yeah!” said Kaede.  “They have to give everyone consideration, don’t they?”

“Well, sure, they _say_ that - they’re obligated to audition everyone - but...c’mon,” said Hoshi.  “Think about it - over 250 people have auditioned already.  They’ve probably had more than enough standouts to pick twelve people from, right?

* * *

“So Marty comes back to 1985 to find that his parents are a lot happier, and his dad’s a successful sci-fi author, right?  But what happened to the Marty who lived in this new timeline?  I mean, we saw _a_ Marty travel back in time when our Marty arrived at the mall to save Doc - presumably, this had been _his_ life, not to mention that our Marty still retains his memories of the original timeline. Now, if we subscribe to the many-worlds interpretation, we could assume that what’s happening wasn’t so much a timeline being erased so much as two alternate Martys swapping places.  Of course, there’s still the issue of Marty nearly being erased from history, but I think that-”

“Okay, thank you very much, Kurashiki-san,” said Ikehara, cutting the girl off.  “But I’m afraid that’s all the time we have for you.  I think I got the general gist of what you wanted, so if you could just sign the contract, you can be on your way.”

“I-what?” stammered Kurashiki.  “But I haven’t even gotten to the good parts yet!”

“Good _bye_ , Kurashiki-san.”

Kurashiki sighed.

“Fine,” she said, signing the contract before turning to leave.  “I can tell that my ideas won’t be appreciated here.”

She walked out of the room in a huff, and Ikehara sighed in relief.

“Ikehara,” said Sawada’s voice in her earpiece.  “The next time an applicant says that they want to be an “Ultimate Quantum Mechanist” or something, don’t ask “What’s that?” – just smile and nod.”

“Understood, Sawada-san.”

“Alternate timelines?   _Really?_ ” she heard the marketing director complain to the others in the room.  “I’ll tell you this - _no one_ in their right minds would _ever_ mix that with a killing game.”

* * *

“Well, hello again.”

Kirumi looked up from her breakfast to see…damn it, she couldn’t remember his name.  It was the boy she had spoken to the previous day – the one wearing the surgical mask.

“Hello, um…I’m really sorry, what’s your name again?”

“Shinguji.  Korekiyo Shinguji.”

Oh.  Duh.  Was the medicine starting to affect her already?  No, no, that was silly – she had only just taken it, after all.  It was just that she had only met him once; that was all there was to it.

(She told herself this, but that didn’t stop her face from turning red with embarrassment.)

“Anyway, I can’t seem to find a table – no one seems to want me to sit with them,” Shinguji told her, sounding oddly cheerful despite what he was saying.  “Between you and me, I’m guessing they think I’m trying to size them up for next season.”

 _Is that why he’s here – to size_ me _up?_ Kirumi asked herself.  Of course, that didn’t make any sense – not only was it plainly obvious that she was no threat, but…

“What good would that do?” she asked him.  “No one who makes it in will be the same person in the game.  No one who makes it in will even _remember_ what happened here.”

Shinguji shrugged.

“I didn’t say that made sense – simply that that was the feeling I was getting,” he told her.  “Anyway, may I sit with you again?”

Kirumi briefly considered objecting, but decided not to – for all intents and purposes, Shinguji seemed willing to treat her the way she wanted to be treated, which was more than she felt like she could say for everyone else in the building, or indeed, everyone else she knew, period.

She nodded, and Shinguji sat down across from her.

“I think the likely cause of this is that some people are already playing the game in their head,” he said, continuing where he had left off.  “Of course, as you said, such things make little difference, but…well, they’re fans – one might suppose they’re almost _eager_ to get sucked into that mindset.”

“Are you saying you’re _not_ a fan?” Kirumi asked him.

“No, I wouldn’t say that,” responded Shinguji, lowering his voice to a whisper.  “Certainly, I’ve caught a few episodes – a cultural juggernaut like this is almost impossible to avoid – but I think I’ve found that this isn’t to my taste.”

“Then why did you decide to audition?” asked Kirumi.  She heard disgust began to creep into her voice, but she didn’t care – if the reason for this was what she thought it was, she was seriously beginning to rethink letting this boy sit with her.

Shinguji must have noticed this, for he quickly shook his head.

“I think I’m giving you the wrong impression,” he told her.  “But rest assured, my motives are not what you think.  I will confess, however, that I am aiming for the prize money.”

She knew it – really, she should have known he was like this the minute she first saw him.  Participating because you loved the show was one thing, but being so dispassionate about it, and for _money_?  What could be more despicable than that?

“Really?” she asked him, not even trying to hide her hatred now.  “And just what do you plan to do with it?”

He told her.

 _…Oh_.

Her hatred suddenly deflated, replaced now with shame.  She had assumed the worst of him, only for him to turn out to have essentially the same motive as her – if anything it was far less selfish than her own.  She felt like a hypocrite – she had always hated people for making assumptions about her just because of what they saw based on how she looked to them, only for her to jump to conclusions about Shinguji because she thought he looked like the kind of guy who would be so amoral.

“I-is that what you…wanted to sit with me?” she asked him, avoiding his gaze.

Shinguji, having pulled down his mask to eat, smiled at her.

“I suppose,” he told her.  “Having seen your situation before…I suppose I thought I could give you some company.  That’s not too arrogant of me to presume, is it?”

If it had been yesterday he had asked her this – hell, if it had been just a minute ago – she would have said yes.  Now, however…

“I…I think I’d like that.”

* * *

“Name and ticket number, please?”

“Gonta Gokuhara, Number 264.”

 _Heh – Gokuhara and Ikehara_ , Ikehara thought to herself as she wrote down his information.   _That’s kinda funny_.

“A pleasure to meet you, Gokuhara-san!” said Ikehara.  Even with the boy standing a few feet away from her, it was plainly obvious that he towered over her, and would have even if she had been standing up.  This might have intimidated most other people, but Ikehara interviewed all sorts for Danganronpa, and it was very difficult to faze her now.

“Now then,” she continued from her usual script, “can you tell me what has attracted you to Danganronpa?”

“Well…” Gokuhara began, looking hesitant.  “To tell you the truth, I’m not a _huge_ fan or anything – I’m more of a casual viewer, if you could call me that.”

Ikehara nodded.  This was a fairly common response – a large portion of the applicants were fans, yes, but not all of them were.  Some signed up due to peer pressure, for example, or because they sought fame in general, while others were more interested in the prize money that the winners would receive (all participants would have a sizable sum sent to their families regardless of their fates, but the survivors would receive the largest amount.  And of course, the Ultimate Survivors would only receive their prize upon completion of every season they were contracted to participate in).

Deciding to press him on this very issue, Ikehara asked him if he was competing for the prize money.

“That’s not a problem if you are,” she said, giving him her usual assurance for this scenario.  “We don’t usually worry about people’s motivations – we just like to get a feel for a person, is all.”

This wasn’t _entirely_ true, of course – there were people whose motivations could make them…difficult to work with.  In many ways, those that were motivated purely by financial gain were often easier to deal with than the die-hard fans.

“Oh, no – well, I mean, yes, I suppose,” Gokuhara said sheepishly.  For a moment, he said nothing, looking down at his feet, and when he continued, it was in a very halting, uncertain manner.

“See, um…my mom…died.  About a year ago, I mean.  And, um…since then…well, I’ve been living with my friend and his aunt - he’s here too, actually, I think he just wanted to support me - and they’ve been really nice to me, but…well, they can only do so much, and they only have so much money…I figured that if I competed in this…well, if I won, they wouldn’t have to pay for my needs…and I could maybe help them out a bit more myself.  And if I didn’t win…well, at least I wouldn’t be a burden anymore, right?”

Ikehara said nothing, as per procedure.  This sort of thing was best left to the applicants themselves, without intervention from the interviewers.  As Fukumoto had once put it, “If they slice open their stomach, let them be the one to pour their guts out.”

However, she didn’t stay silent for long, as she soon heard Mukai’s voice through her earpiece.

“Ask him if there’s anything else,” instructed the psychologist.  “I think there’s still a little more to this.”

Ikehara did as she was told, noting that Gokuhara looked surprised when she asked him this.

“Oh…well, I guess there’s one thing,” he said, still seeming hesitant.  “See…well, I’m sure you noticed that I’m a big guy.  And, well…my size tends to cause the type of issues you’d expect – you can’t really avoid standing out in a crowd, for one.  Not to mention, I’m kind of an intimidating-looking guy, so…well, people tend to assume the worst of me.  And…well, that really pisses me off, y’know?”

He started to grow more confident, as well as noticeably angrier – his eyes grew so fierce that most other people would have been headed right out the door, but Ikehara was made of stronger stuff than that..

“I didn’t ask to be born this way!” Gokuhara continued, raising his voice considerably.  “I can’t help that I look the way I do! What right to they have to judge me for that?!  Why the hell can’t they just leave me alone?!”

He was silently for a moment, and then, taking a few deep breaths, he appeared to calm down, his expression returning to normal.

“So…yeah.  I’ve…I’ve got a few anger issues.  I haven’t been to a psychologist, so I don’t know how serious it is…but it’s definitely been a problem.  I mean…I haven’t hurt anybody…but I’ve wanted to…”

In the past, Ikehara had often been surprised at how easily people opened up to her when she interviewed them.  Not so much these days – it seemed to her that the kids who auditioned were generally willing to vent their emotions if they knew that there wouldn’t be any consequences.  After all, even now, when the Internet was more prevalent than ever before, Team Danganronpa hadn’t had any leaks in years (which probably had something to do with how Yumeno had dealt with the last person to leak info), and if they _did_ get in…well, it’s not like they had anything to lose.

“So…are you saying that you want to have a lid on that in the game?” she ventured.

Gokuhara nodded.

“Yeah, something like that.  I guess…well, I want to be nicer, really.  I want to be the kind of guy that would never hurt anybody.”

“So not the blackened, then?” asked Ikehara.

Gokuhara gave a nervous grin.

“No, I guess not,” he said.

“Well, that’s fine – in fact, I think that’d be a great fit for you!” Ikehara said brightly.  “Now…can you tell me what sort of talent you’d want me to have?”

“Huh…haven’t given it that much thought, honestly,” said Gokuhara.  “I mean…despite everything, I wouldn’t mind something…physical, I guess.  Maybe…I dunno, Ultimate Pro-Wrestler?”

“We had one of those last season,” Ikehara told him.  “We generally prefer not to reuse a talent in the same year.”

“Oh, sorry about that,” said Gokuhara, looking a bit embarrassed.  “I, um…didn’t really watch the last season.  Like I said, I’m more of a casual fan, and…well, I’ve been pretty busy lately.  Maybe Ultimate Sumo Wrestler?”

“Actually, I think we might already have a martially talented student in mind,” Ikehara told him, Ozawa having mentioned to her that he and Sawada were planning on making a push for that Chabashira girl that Hagiwara had mentioned interviewing.  “Why don’t we try another area?”

“What did you have in mind?” Gokuhara asked her.

“Well, I’ve usually found that we get good results from talents that spring from an applicant’s own interests,” she told him.  “Is there anything that comes to mind along those lines?”

Gokuhara was silent for a while.  Once or twice he looked like he was about speak up, but then he seemed to think better of it, and went back to looking puzzled.  Finally, after about forty-five seconds had passed, he seemed to hit on something.

“Well…I do like bugs…”

* * *

_Bugs, eh?_ Idabashi pondered as Gokuhara left, having completed the audition.

They could certainly do bugs – he still had the files on several of them left from an execution several seasons ago, and they hadn’t been that hard to program, so he could easily make more of them.  It would pose some difficulties, however – there supposed to be absolutely no wildlife in the game, both to ensure a sense of isolation, and to ensure that the students were forced to rely on the school for food, so that the Mastermind had absolute control over what they ate.  More than once, the plot had involved the students’ food, whether it was cut off, or drugged, or whatever was necessary for the game to proceed.

And bugs _would_ pose a problem to this – while some might think of it as disgusting, many bugs were perfectly edible and indeed quite nutritious, being a favorite dish of a variety of cultures, something that any entomologist would be well aware of.

Still, that would be easily fixed – if they limited them to the boy’s Lab, they could easily make him protective of them to the point that he would be unwilling to let them be eaten, or simply cut off access to the lab if they needed the students to eat certain food.  As for isolation…really, apart from Gokuhara, who would want to befriend a _bug_?

“I’m not sure what to say about this one,” said Fukumoto.  “Thoughts?”

“He might not have given us a lot to go on,” said Sawada, “but I liked him! Plus, the story he gave us would be great for publicity...assuming he was telling the truth, of course.”

“He was,” confirmed Mukai.

“Ah, perfect, perfect! Now then…I think I see him as...well, a minion kind of guy, frankly.  I think we wanted a physically weak, but brilliant student for the main rival this season?  This one would be a nice counter balance to that.  I mean, really - have we had anyone as big as him before?”

“I don’t know…” said Ozawa.  “He seemed to want to be more of a gentle giant kind of guy, and to be honest, I’m liking the look of that more.”

“Maybe, but did you see his face when he was talking about how people treated him?  I mean, those _eyes_ \- go and tell me we shouldn’t take advantage of something like that!”

“If I might suggest a compromise,” said Kagawa, “why not simply make him a gentle giant manipulated into working for this intellectual rival?”

“That could work,” mused Ozawa.  “Though for that to work...I think we’d need to write him as a bit...well…”

“Stupid?”

“Well...yeah.”

“If that’s what it takes,” Kagawa said with a shrug.

“Well, I don’t know if that...hmm…”

Ozawa fell silent for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

“Actually...maybe you _could_ wring some good drama out of that,” he said.

“Oh, but where’s the fun in dumb muscle?” asked Sawada.  “You’d just wipe out that gleam in his eye!  I mean, did you see him?  He was like a caged animal - a real killer!”

“I don’t know why you’re on that,” responded Ozawa.  “We can do more than make him a one-note asshole.”

Idabashi ignored the two of them as they began to bicker, choosing instead to further plan out what would be needed if Gokuhara was selected.  At that moment, however, his phone began to vibrate.  He quickly took it out to see that Yonaga had just texted him, informing him that…

Oh.

Oh dear.

“I’m very sorry, but something’s come up!” he announced as he leapt out of his seat.  “You’ll have to continue without me – I’ll be in the lab.”

“Hold on,” said Fukumoto.  “What’s the-”

But Idabashi was already out the door.

* * *

Chaos had unfolded in the tech lab, and all Kiibo could do was watch.  Technicians were rushing around the room while letting loose a stream of panicked cursing, while others rapidly typed commands into consoles, but to no avail, which prompted whole new streams of cursing.  Kelsey, in the center of it all, did her best to direct them, but it was obvious that she was reaching her limits.

“Is there anything I can do, Kelsey?” the A.I. asked her.  To be fair, he wasn’t really sure what was going on – whatever the problem was, it seemed to be with the central computer, which he wasn’t connected to at the present (fortunately, he supposed).  Still, it didn’t seem right for him to sit there and do nothing.

But Kelsey just shook her head.

“Not right now please, Kiibo,” she said to him as she ran over to a nearby console.  “I need to do what I can to keep things under control until the Professor-”

“Yonaga!” Idabashi shouted over the din as he strode into the room.  “Status report!”

“Of course, sir,” said Kelsey as she hurried over to Idabashi.  “Approximately twenty minutes ago, we had been running some preliminary tests on the Ultimate Academy program.  We were preparing to run a few killing simulations when, um…this happened.”

She directed Idabashi to a console screen.  It only took a moment’s of observation for him to see what the problem was, and his eyes widened in shock.

“How did this happen?” he asked Kelsey, who only sighed.

“Why don’t you ask _him_?”

As if on cue, an all too familiar laugh filled the room.

“ _Upupupupupupupupupupupupupu_ …”

Suddenly, several technicians leapt back from their consoles in shock.  Every console in the room that was connected to the central computer began to display the same image – the face of a bear that was half-white, and half-black, with the black half marked by a cruel half-smile and a jagged red eye.

“Well, well, well…took you long enough to show up, Idaba-chan! And here I thought I was going to have to blow up a few buildings to get you to come up here!”

“Monokuma…” growled Idabashi.  “What have you done to the Ultimate Academy program?”

“Oh, what can I say?” Monokuma said, his voice dripping with a mocking glee that was all too familiar to anyone who had seen at least one episode of Danganronpa.  “It was getting _so_ boring waiting for you all to pick our fourteen lucky boys and girls – or wait, it’s twelve this time, isn’t it?”

“Um…no, I think they need to choose thirteen this time,” said Kiibo, in an attempt to be helpful.  "Including Harukawa-san, that is."

“YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, KII-BRAT!” shouted Monokuma, suddenly turning vicious.  “I SAID TWELVE, AND I MEANT TWELVE!”

Kiibo fell silent.  He knew that the Monokuma A.I. existed in the central computer, but he had never actually spoken to it before.  He had to admit, he was beginning to wish it had stayed that way.

“ _Anyway_ …” Monokuma continued, returning to his usual-faux cheer, “My poor, poor cubs were just _begging_ for some fun to be had, and since they’re not going to be having the same opportunities that my generation had…well, I had to do _something_ , didn't I?  That’s this economy for ya – a dad’s gotta look after his kids, amiright?”

“You’re not their father,” retorted Kelsey.  “The Professor created them, not you.”

“Awfully narrow-minded of you, Kelsey-chan,” taunted the bear.  “Ol’ Idaba-chan couldn’t spare the time to look over my little cubs, not when he had his nice, shiny, POV-cam son.  So I decided to adopt!  Besides, they used some of _my_ code, so in the end, they _are_ my blood kids, aren’t they?  (I mean, they don’t have any blood, and everything they _do_ have is made out of 1’s and 0’s, but you get the idea.)”

“Enough of this!” shouted Idabashi.  “Monokuma, return our technicians’ access to the Ultimate Academy program, before the Monokubs wreck it beyond repair.”

“No can do! Looks like you’ll have to pull the plug!”

“You know we can't do that,” said Idabashi.  “We’d lose everything!”

“Well then, Idaba-chan,” the bear gloated, “you’d better send in someone to play with my cubs soon, or things are gonna get _real_ messy!”

And with that, Monokuma’s visage disappeared, the consoles returning to normal one by one.

Sighing, Idabashi turned to Kelsey.

“Can the Monitor handle this?” he asked her.

“We haven’t been able to contact her,” she told him, shaking her head.  “If she’s trying to deal with it herself, she isn’t having any success.  She’s powerful, but so is Monokuma, and with the Monokubs at his side, she’s outnumbered.”

Idabashi let out another, much longer sigh.

“We spent a fortune for _this_?” he complained for what certainly wasn't the first time.  "Sometimes I hate A.I."

“Um, Father?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Kiibo!” Idabashi stammered, apparently having forgotten that Kiibo was there.  “I wasn’t referring to you, of course – it’s just that the Monokuma A.I. has always been extremely troublesome, and…well…as you can see-”

“Oh! No, it’s not that!” Kiibo said truthfully.  He didn’t like the Monokubs anymore than his father did – the few times he had spoken with them, they had proven to be…well, there wasn’t any better word for it.  They had been assholes.

“I was just wondering,” he continued.  “Um…what’s going on, exactly?”

“Did Yonaga not tell you?” asked Idabashi, looking somewhat alarmed.

“It was…rather chaotic,” explained Kelsey.  “I, um…didn’t really have the time.”

“Well then,” began Idabashi as he adjusted his glasses.  “To make a long story short, it would seem that the Monokuma A.I. in charge of the Killing Game has…taken control of the Ultimate Academy simulation where the game will be played, presumably out of distaste for the changes that we’ve made for this season, and locked the rest of us out of it.  He’s allowed the Monokubs I created for this season to run rampant, and  I fear that if they’re not stopped, they’ll have wrecked the simulation to such an extent that we’ll have to start completely from scratch, which we do _not_ have time for.”

“Couldn’t you just reload from the last save?” asked Kiibo.

“We, um…can’t,” confessed Kelsey.  “Monokuma deleted them – hence the panic earlier.  It’s save this one, or go back to the drawing board.”

“How did this happen?” muttered Idabashi.  “The Monitor should have been able to stop this.”

“Maybe Monokuma found a back door or something?” asked Kelsey.

“I can’t imagine he could have, but I can’t think of any other explanation,” said Idabashi.  “I’ll have to take a look myself later.  But what to do now…”

The room was silent for a moment as everyone tried to think of a plan.

“Perhaps…we could postpone the season?” ventured Kelsey.

“Absolutely not!” said Idabashi, fervently shaking his head.  “Fukumoto would never allow it – not in our current precarious position.  No, it has to be now, and it has to be today…”

“I’m afraid I don’t see any other options, sir,” said Kelsey.  “None of us can access the program, and without access, there’s nothing we can do.”

 _None of us can access it?_ Kiibo thought to himself.   _Is that really true?_

_“…you’d better send in someone to play with my cubs soon, or things are gonna get real messy!”_

_Wait a second…_

“I can access it!” announced Kiibo, shocking everyone in the room.

“You?” asked Kelsey incredulously.  “How could you…oh, I see…”

“Yes, I think I do too…” said Idabashi.  “We could easily connect you to the main computer, and transfer you to the avatar we’ve created for you.  And Monokuma _did_ say to send someone…he wants to play a game, doesn’t he? Of course he would…are you up for it though, Kiibo?  The Monokubs aren’t to be taken lightly.”

Kiibo’s holographic form nodded.

“I’m ready, Father! I won’t let Monokuma wreak the game!”

Idabashi studied him for a moment, his face impassive, before breaking out into a smile.

“My boy, you are truly one of a kind,” he said.  “Give us a moment – I’ll give your avatar the necessary upgrades.”

As Idabashi hurried over to an unoccupied console, Kelsey turned to Kiibo.

“Are you sure about this, Kiibo?” she asked him.  “If you’re in the simulation…well, it’s designed to feel as real as possible.  I’m not sure if you’re prepared for that.”

“Don’t worry, Kelsey,” Kiibo said with a smile.  “I’m an A.I. – there’s nothing they can do to me that Father can’t fix! Besides, I couldn’t let your sister miss a chance to be on Danganronpa, could I?”

Kelsey blinked a few times, not saying a word.

“Y-yes, of course!” she stammered once she had found her voice.  “…Thank you, Kiibo.”

Without another word, she turned away and walked to work at a nearby console.

“Alright, that should do it,” announced Idabashi.  “Kiibo, we’re about to be begin.  Are you ready?”

“Ready when you are, Father!”

“Perfect! Data transfer in 5…4…3…2…”

Suddenly, everything in Kiibo’s line of sight blinked out of existence, before just as quickly blinking back in, and he found himself floating over a burning school.

* * *

_??????? Theater_

_“A watchmaker…”_

_Sis looks up at me._

_“I’m sorry?”_

_“I was thinking of this quote by Albert Einstein,” I explain to her.  “I think it was…hang on…oh yeah: ‘The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking ... the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.’”_

_“I see.  So you’re comparing yourself to Einstein?”_

_“Yeah, yeah, I know, I guess it_ is _pretty arrogant.”_

_“No, no, I think I get where you’re coming from - you think a humble life would be preferable to your current one, for...understandable reasons.  Of course, I don’t think it’s an entirely fair comparison – Einstein was aware of the destructive power of the atom.  There’s no way you could have known what was going to happen with Danganronpa.”_

_“Well, unlike Einstein, I can’t argue that I was trying to save the world from evil.”_

_“None of what happened was your fault.”_

_“…That’s not what you said when The End of Hope’s Peak came out.”_

_“I…I shouldn’t have said those things to you.  I didn’t understand what you were going through back then.”_

_“…Yeah, I know.  I…I shouldn’t have brought that up.”_

_“No, you shouldn’t be afraid to speak your mind.  It’s good for you to open up about this.”_

_“I guess.”_

_We don’t say anything for a solid minute.  Then, when I can't ignore the thought tugging in the corner of my brain any longer, I speak up._

_“…Sis?”_

_“Yes?”_

_“Tell me the truth…you still wish you had said no to me, don’t you?”_

_“…Yes.  That hasn’t changed.”_

_“Good.  I just wish I had listened when you told me that in the first place."_

_"Yes, I know.  I suppose we've learned a great deal over the years."_

" _Really?  Because all I've learned is that I can't change the heart of mankind anymore than Einstein could."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Akane - ahead of her time. (And yeah, that's my favorite scene from ZTD.)
> 
> We're moving into somewhat less grounded territory here, what with a fight between A.I.s and all of that. Of course, we weren't exactly in firmly grounded territory already, and really, no matter what the actual explanation for what's going on in the game, the world of Danganronpa V3 is definitely not our own. So yeah, this isn't going to take a hard turn into sci-fi action for the rest of the story...but we might see some weirder shit on occassion.
> 
> Other than that...honestly, I don't really have much else to say this time. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a comment below and tell me what you think!


	9. Beneath the Mask

**Auditions - Day 3 cont.**

The instant Kiibo entered the simulation, he was nearly overwhelmed by any intense wave of sensations.  Before, he had been limited to a mere two senses, only being able to see and hear what was exposed to the visual and auditory receptors of the computer that housed his program.  But in the Ultimate Academy simulation, his avatar was also programmed for both smell and touch (or at least a reasonable facsimile of both), which made sense, considering that the contestants were supposed to believe the simulation was real.  

So not only could he see and hear far more than he ever could have before, but for the first time, he could smell fresh air, feel it rushing over him.  None of it was real, of course, but even if it was illusion...it was incredible.  He just wanted to hover there, awash with sensations of a whole new world in front of him.

Suddenly, a voice echoed around him.

_“Well, it certainly took you long enough - I was wondering if you’d ever show up.”_

“Monokuma?!” Kiibo asked, having been caught off guard.

_“Definitely not – I don’t sound anything like him, do I?”_

Now that Kiibo thought about it, that was true.  This voice was softer, and fairly neutral in tone, while also sounding rather…feminine?  Yes, he thought so.

“Oh, wait! You’re the Monitor, aren’t you?  I think we’ve spoken before!”

 _“Ah…right, I think I remember you,”_ said the Monitor. _“You tried to connect to the central computer on your own accord, and I blocked you, didn’t I?”_

“Um…yeah, pretty much,” said Kiibo, rather embarrassed for one of the incidents of his youth to be brought up again.  “Sorry about that.”

_“It’s not a problem.  Anyway, yes, that is my title.  I do have a proper name, but you’d probably want an explanation for it, and we don’t really have time.  You can see the school from here, right?”_

Kiibo glanced down at the school to see that, as it was the last time he had looked, still on fire.  He could also see what appeared to be several odd-looking robots scattered around the building, pummeling the building with gunfire.  As he continued watching, there was a faint _BOOM_ , and a small explosion blossomed from the east wing of the building.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA! HOW DO YA LIKE _THAT_ , NERDS!” shouted a rough voice whose owner was clearly very enthused by the prospect of burning the simulation to the ground.

Kiibo heard the Monitor sigh.

“Children _.  If this keeps up, the school will be rubble inside half an hour_.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” said Kiibo.  “Where are you right now?”

“ _Oh, I’m everywhere_ ,” said the Monitor.  “ _I_ could _concentrate myself in one place, but I can’t fight all of them at once – it would just make me a target.  So I’ve dispersed myself around the simulation instead – they can’t get me that way, and it allows me to get a better look at what’s happening.  Unfortunately, that means I can’t really do anything to fight back.”_

“So what do we do?” Kiibo asked her.

“ _Distract them.  Draw their fire, and see if you can make them gather in one place – the center of the courtyard should do fine.  Your upgrades should allow you to handle that._ ”

“My upgrades?” asked Kiibo.  He ran a quick diagnostic on himself, and realized that in addition to his rocket thrusters _(_ ah, _that’s_ how he was airborne), he was also equipped with some pretty serious firepower of his own.

“ _Yes, very impressive_ ,” said the Monitor.  “ _You won’t have those when the season begins, of course, but in the meantime, they should be useful.  Just make sure you don’t damage the school with them.  Anyway, once you’ve gathered them together, I should be able to handle things myself._ ”

“Okay!” said Kiibo, ready to go.  “How long do you think this will take?”

“ _Well, once we’ve started, the rate of destruction will slow.  Still, it may take time to successfully gather them – they have rather poor attention spans.  I’d clear your schedule for the next few hours._ ”

“Aw, but I’ll miss the auditions!”

“ _I assure you, you won’t be missing much._ ”

* * *

“Oh, look at this little Monomi plushie! Isn’t she adorable?”

Maki smiled as Shirogane held out the stuffed pink and white rabbit.  Some might have gotten tired of her exuberance, but Maki didn’t mind it, surprisingly enough.  There was a real passion in it – it didn’t feel like a performance or anything.  And if Shirogane _was_ trying to charm her…well, Maki didn’t really see anything wrong with being charmed if the person was nice.

 _And it doesn’t help that she’s actually really damn pretty_ , a small part of her brain whispered.

 _No!_ shouted the rest of her brain, which was hopefully more sensible.   _Don’t think that way about friends! And that’s all she is – a_ friend.

Of course, she had only known her for a couple days now, and yet she already wanted to consider her a friend.  But why wouldn’t she want too?  Shirogane was nice, and smart, and cute, and knew a lot about Danganronpa, and cute, and generous, and cute, and she didn’t remember the gift shop being this hot…

“Haru-chan, you okay?”

“Wha-oh!” said Maki as she snapped back to reality to find Shirogane staring at her with concern.  “O-oh, yeah, she’s cute, but I think I like Usami better?  Monomi was what Monokuma forced her to be, after all.”

Shirogane considered this for a moment, then nodded.

“Ooh, good point, Haru-chan!” she said as she swapped the Monomi plushie for an Usami.  “You’ve put a lot more thought into these things than I do! I suppose that’s why you’ll be going on Danganronpa, huh?”

“I…w-well, I don’t know about that…” Maki said as she felt her face burning up.

…Yeah, okay, she had a crush on Shirogane.  No point in denying it.  So what?  She had realized she had liked girls ever since she had started watching old episodes of _Sailor Moon Crystal_ when she was 10.  This wasn’t even the first time she had a crush on a girl she knew.

…Though this might be the first time she had a crush on a girl who was actually _talking_ to her…

“Hey, where’s Saihara?” she asked nobody in particular, not really being prepared to deal with this sort of thing at the present time.

“I’m right here,” Saihara said as he came up behind them.  “So, quick question – this pen really _can_ record people’s voices?”

Shirogane took the Monokuma-theme pen and clicked it – noticeably, this didn’t cause the head of the pen to appear.

“You tell me,” she says, and then clicks the pen again, before pressing the Monokuma face on the side.

 _“You tell me_ ,” the pen repeated via a hidden speaker.

Saihara’s eyes widened.

“Ooh, nice,” he said as he took the pen back.  “I’m getting this.”

“You can only record one audio file at a time,” Shirogane told him.  “Though I think if you unscrew the end, you can plug it into a computer and download it.  Anyway, why don’t we get goooooohshit!”

Shirogane quickly leapt behind a shelf of collectible figurines (advertised with a picture of Hifumi Yamada that said “Go 3D or go home!”), pulling Maki and Saihara alongside her.

“Ow, hey!” protested Maki.  “What are you doing?”

“Quiet!” commanded Shirogane.  “Or they’ll see us!”

Maki wanted to ask “ _Who_ will see us?”, but Shirogane’s pleading stare preemptively silenced her.  Instead, she simply peered out from behind the shelf, as did Shirogane and Saihara.

“Do you sell any protein bars here?” a tall, brown-haired girl with twin pigtails (like Maki’s, but braided) asked the store’s clerk.  Next to her, a short girl with red hair tapped her foot impatiently.

“’Fraid not, miss,” replied the bored looking clerk.  “We only sell official Danganronpa merchandise here.  I think one of the vending machines has some.”

“Damn it!” muttered the girl.  “Tenko doesn’t have any coins on her.  Yumeno-san, how about you?”

“I left my wallet back in my room,” the girl whose name was apparently Yumeno said glumly.

“Oh, come on! How is that fair?” the tall girl asked the clerk.

“Miss, if you’re not going to buy anything here, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

The girl grumbled, but turned to leave.

“No! We have to follow them,” whispered Shirogane.  “But we can’t let them get too far away.  We need to keep them in one place…”

“Wait, hold on!” said Maki, very confused now.  “ _Why_ do we need to follow them, again?”

“Look, I’ll explain later!” said Shirogane.  “Right now, I just need you to bear with me for a bit.  Please, Haru-chan?”

She was being manipulated.  She didn’t think that Shirogane meant her any harm, but she knew that she was trying to manipulate her.

And yet…

“Yeah, alright,” Maki said, before really giving it much thought.

“Great!” said Shirogane.  “Here, take these! And hurryhurryhurry!”

She shoved some coins into Maki’s hands, and then pushed her out from behind the shelf.  Yumeno and the brown-haired girl turned around to see her, and the latter’s eyes widened.

“Holy shit! It’s Maki Harukawa!” she squealed.  “Yumeno-san, can you believe it? Harumaki, in the flesh!”

“It’s not _that_ hard to believe,” muttered Yumeno.  “I mean, we already knew she was in the same building as us…”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Harukawa-san!” the girl said as she bowed, not paying attention to her companion.  “My name is Tenko Chabashira, and this is Himiko Yumeno.”

“Oh, um…hello…” said Maki, waving nervously.  “I, um…why did you just call me ‘Harumaki’?”

“Oh, that was because of that thing you said when you were up onstage with Junko!” explained Chabashira.  “It’s a bit silly, sure, but Tenko’s heard a lot of people saying it, and she thinks it’s kind of cute!”

Maki groaned inwardly.  “Haru-chan” was one thing, but at least that was fairly normal (and it _did_ sound cute when Shirogane said it).  But she _really_ wasn’t a fan of a spring roll being the first thing to come to mind when people thought of her.

“Tenko was _so_ jealous when she saw you go up onstage!” Chabashira told her (Yumeno gave some sort of involuntary twitch when she said this).  “She can’t believe you’ve already been selected!  How does it feel?”

“W-well, um…” Maki stammered.  “I…I don’t know if it’s really something I can put into words…”

Remembering why she was here, she held out the coins she was holding.

“Hey, you wanted to use the vending machine, right?”

“ _Ooh!_ ” said Chabashira as she snatched up the coins.  “Thanks!  Hey, come with us!  We can talk more!”

“Um...well, alright…” Maki said as she sneaked a glance over as Shirogane, who nodded furiously.

“By the way…” said Chabashira as she led Maki and Yumeno to a vending machine.  “...do you know anything about aikido?”

* * *

“What’s this all about, Shirogane?” asked Saihara.

Tsumugi hesitated.  What could she say without arousing any suspicion?  

“Look, it’s difficult to explain…” she said slowly.  “And we don’t have a lot of time.  Right now, we just need to keep following that girl with the pigtails.”

“Why?” asked Saihara.  “Do you know her or something?”

_That’s an opening!  Use it!_

_“_ Yes, yes I do!  Now, please, just help me!  Maybe you can use that recording pen.”

Saihara’s eyes lit up.  

“Alright, sure, I’ll do it,” he told her.

 _Huh, he must really go for this detective stuff_.

“Okay, let’s go!” said Tsumugi as she led Saihara out of the gift shop.

“ _Ahem.”_

 _“_ Right after we pay for these,” she said as they turned back towards the irritated clerk.

* * *

_BOOM!_

Okay, so the Monitor’s distraction strategy wasn’t going _quite_ as planned.  That is to say, Kiibo had the Monokubs’ attention…and that was about all he had managed.

_BOOM!_

Another explosion threw him through one of the school’s windows, leaving him sprawled on the classroom floor.

“Aw, is that the best you go, Kii-brat?” came the voice of one of the Monokubs – Monokid, Kiibo, believed from the Exisal he was piloting as it stared through the hole it had made.

Kiibo ignored him, or rather, wasn’t able to pay him much attention.  This new sensation…the one that made him forget everything around him, the one that made him want to fly off in fear or cry until he had no more tears to give…this was pain, wasn’t it?  He was hurt.

“I’d have thought the Ultimate Robot would’ve been tougher than this, but you ain’t no Terminator, kid!” Monokid continued to gloat.  “You’re just one of those pussy robots with “dreams” and “feelings”, aren’t ya?”

Pain…he hadn’t really known what to expect just from hearing about it – all he knew was that humans did their best to avoid it.  Right now, he could see why – this was, without a doubt, the most awful experience of his – admittedly short – existence.  He felt like if he so much as received a light tap – let alone machine guns and missile fire – he would just collapse, unable to function.

“What, ya wanna be _human_?” mocked the Monokub.  “Ya wanna be a real boy?  Ya think you’re any more than a bunch of 1’s and 0’s made to look like some tin can heartthrob or whatever the hell that senile old fuck made you?”

_Father…_

* * *

" _People are often fearful of A.I. in this day and age,” the Professor had told him.  “And with someone like Monokuma as the most famous example…I suppose you couldn’t really blame them.  He is something that does not obey the First Law of Robotics – he will attempt to kill someone in the simulator, if he’s allowed to.  Such creations are very dangerous – even the militaries of the world, whom one would normally expect to jump at the opportunity, are reluctant to touch something that could easily turn on them.  If I had my way…well, Monokuma would not be what he is today, I think.”_

_The Professor had paused, then turned to him, smiling._

_“That’s why I created you, Kiibo.  Kindness, compassion, Hope…I wanted to give the people of the world something that exemplifies all of humanity’s virtues, and show without a doubt that our creations – this strange new life that we have created – can have them as well.  Looking through your eyes, seeing what you see…_ my _greatest Hope is that when they do that, they’ll see in you what I see, and be spurred on to embody these virtues themselves.  For that reason…I am proud to call you my son.”_

* * *

Pain…pain made him want to run, it made him want to cry.  But there was one other thing it did – it made him want to tear every Monokub into a million pieces.

And if he could use that feeling here…then he’d take as much pain as they gave him.

“Don’t…you…dare…” muttered Kiibo as he struggled to his feet, willing energy to surge from him into his left arm.

“Aw, what’s the matter, Kiiboy?  You gonna _cry_?”

“Don’t…you… _dare_ …MOCK THE PROFESSOR'S DREAM!”

He pointed his arm at the Exisal, and it suddenly shifted into the form of a cannon.

“What the fuck is th-”

Monokid’s question was cut off by the cannon firing, releasing a massive blue laser that tore through the classroom and headed straight for the Exisal.

“Oh _SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”_ screamed Monokid as he was engulfed in the blast – both mech and bear were disintegrated in seconds.

“ _Well_ ,” came the Monitor’s voice.  “ _That was certainly…effective.  That takes care of_ that _avatar, at least.”_

“Yeah, well…” Kiibo said weakly as he sank to his knees.  “That, um…kinda took a lot out of me.  I don’t know if this avatar is ready for that kind of exertion yet.”

“ _Let me help_ ,” said the Monitor, and a large, crystalline heart suddenly appeared out of thin air, floating down in front of Kiibo.  He reached out to it, and suddenly he felt almost entirely revitalized.

“ _That should restore you for the most part, though I didn’t restore the laser’s full power.  If it takes that much out of you, it would be too risky to keep using it, especially since the Monokubs will likely be more cautious now.”_

“HOLY SHIT! Did you guy see that?!” shouted a rather rude-sounding voice.  “Kii-brat just disintegrated Monokid! He’s almost as bad as Monodam!”

“WHY-ARE-YOU-SO-CRUEL?  CAN’T-WE-ALL-JUST-GET-ALONG?”

“Hmm…” said Kiibo.  “Maybe we can use that, actually…”

He flew out of the broken window and landed on the campus grounds, where he could see the remaining four Exisals – each contained one Monokub – facing his direction.  He couldn’t see their occupants, but he didn’t need to – it was obvious they were sweating bullets.

“I’m not playing around here!” he shouted at them.  “You want to take a shot at me?  You’ll get exactly what he got!”

“RUN!” shouted one of the Monokubs – Monotaro, he thought? – and the Exisals scattered, each rushing in different directions as fast as heavy mechs could.  Not very fast at all, that is.

 _Well, this is going to be…tedious,_ Kiibo thought as he took off in pursuit.

* * *

“How are you feeling now?” asked Shinguji.

“I…a bit sleepy,” Kirumi admitted sheepishly.  “I think I should be alright for a while longer, but after that…I dunno…”

“You don’t need to stay here on my account,” he told her.  “If you need to go to bed, then you should, while you can still stand up.”

“I don’t need your advice!” she snapped at him, before realizing that she might have been too harsh.  “I…I mean…”

“No, I understand,” Shinguji told her.  “Perhaps you’d like to talk about this a bit?  My audition’s soon, but we should have time.”

“I...yes, that’s fine.”

Shinguji nodded.  “In that case...do you have think you could tell me why you dislike others helping you so much?

“Well, I…”

Kirumi paused, unsure how to phrase this.

“...I just hate...being treated like I’m so fragile that I’m going to break in two from a stiff breeze!” she said, and then everything suddenly started to pour out.  “I feel like I’m trapped in a cage, and my parents are keeping me there.  ‘Kirumi, we just don’t think you’re well enough to go out!’ I feel like I’m constantly being smothered with a pillow - and you know, that might be less painful! took everything I had just to convince them to let me come here, and even then,  they made me bring the strongest medicine I had, which is...well, you’ve seen the problems with _that_.  And the worst part is…”

Kirumi took a deep breath.

“The worst part is that I know they’re only doing this because they feel like they have to.  If they felt like they could dump me on someone else, they would.  Honestly...I think that’s why they signed my permission forms - either I get the money for better treatments...or they don’t have to put up with me anymore.”

Shinguji said nothing, merely offering her a handkerchief that he seemed to have produced out of nowhere.  Kirumi blinked, and only just realized that tears had begun to well up in her eyes. She took the handkerchief and started to dab her eyes.

“I’ve had a few experiences like this,” Shinguji explained.  “I find it best to keep a few of them on me.   But while I haven’t dealt with these issues myself, I do have experience in helping another with them.  So may I offer some advice?”

Eyes still watering, Kirumi nodded.

“I know what you’re going through,” he said gently.  “Our parents haven’t really been the caring sort either.  But pushing away others that _do_ care won’t help.  I might not care about what others think of me, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think that another’s love is something to turn away.  This isn’t a burden you have to bear alone.”

“I don’t need anyone’s pity,” Kirumi told him, blowing her nose as she did so.

“If you found the right person, it won’t be because they pity you - it will be because they care about you.”

Care… Did anyone she knew care about her?  Her parents were already out of the question, she had no siblings, and she had never had time to make any friends.  Shinguji’s words stirred something inside of her, but without someone to start with...what could she do?

At that moment, an announcement rang out.

“Number 300 - Korekiyo Shinguji!”

“Well, I suppose that’s that,” said Shinguji as he rose from his seat.  “It was nice meeting you, Tojo-san.”

“Wait...are you leaving?” she asked him in surprise, detecting a note of finality in his voice.

“Unfortunately, yes,” he told her.  “Forgive me, I must have forgotten to mention it earlier - I have somewhere I desperately need to be.  If I had been permitted, I would have only come in on the day of my audition, but as that was not allowed, I had to settle for leaving as soon as possible.”

“Oh…” said Kirumi, disappointed.  She had liked talking to him - he had seemed...real, somehow.  And if there was anyone she felt she could trust to be the first to care about her...well, she could think of worse.

“It...it was nice meeting you,” she muttered, too embarrassed to mark eye contact.

Shinguji nodded, and even though he still had his mask on, Kirumi was sure he was smiling.

“Likewise,” he told her, and then he turned around and headed towards the audition room doors.  A crowd of applicants suddenly passed in front of Kirumi, obscuring her view, and when they had passed, he was gone.

She had wanted to tell him that she hoped to see him again, but had decided against it - every scenario that she could imagine for that seemed too cruel to wish for.

* * *

“Seriously?  He’s not answering his phone?” Sawada asked incredulously.

“He never does when he’s working on something important, and that sounded important,” replied Kagawa.  “Don’t try to rush him, Sawada-san - he’ll be done when he’s done.”

“Alright, enough about Idabashi,” said Fukumoto.  “I want to see what this kid’s got.”

They all watched Ikehara address a tall, lanky boy with long dark hair and a black surgical mask.

“Okay, Shinguji-san, do you think you could tell me what it is that brought you to Danganronpa?  What do you like about?” she asked him.  It was her last interview of the day, but if she was impatient, she didn’t show it.

“Hmm...rather difficult to describe…” the boy said evenly.  “It’s never been something I’ve taken to in a big way, and I believe there’s always been something that kept me from getting into it fully…”

“Oh?” asked Ikehara.  “What might that be?”

Shinguji hesitated for a moment, and then began to speak again.

“Well...I suppose it may be the repetitive nature of it?  Most of the seasons stick to the same formula, after all, with a few variations here and there.”

“Maybe if _somebody_ would be willing to branch out a bit…” muttered Ozawa while staring in Sawada’s direction.

“The public wants what the public wants,” Sawada scoffed.  “The model works, and it’ll hold for as long as it does.”

Mukai gazed thoughtfully at Shinguji.

“I…don’t think he’s being entirely truthful here,” she said before pressing the microphone button.  “Ikehara, could you try to get a little more out of him here?”

“Well, I can certainly see your perspective, even if I don’t agree,” Ikehara told the boy.  “Still, this clearly wasn’t enough to dissuade you from auditioning.”

“Well, I can easily see the appeal regardless,” Shinguji said with a shrug.  “Becoming the person you’ve always wanted to be…to be frank, I actually have briefly thought about auditioning before, but there was always a reason not to – it was never really a serious consideration.  Now, though…well, I feel like I have to.”

“And why’s that?” asked Ikehara.

“Money,” he told her plainly.  “My family has fallen on hard times, and while that would be difficult for any family, it’s especially bad for us.  I need to do what I can, and…well, this seemed like the best idea.  It’s a gamble, but as I see it, the worst that can happen is that I don’t get in.  Even if I lose, my family will still get the compensation prize, which should be enough to keep things going, at least for a bit.”

Ikehara nodded.  “That’s very noble of you, Shinguji-san.”

“I’m just doing what any son should do.  It’s hardly a heroic deed, I should think.”

“Regardless, I think you’re the type of person we’d want to see on the show,” she said with a smile.  “Now then…what about your Ultimate Talent?”

“Well, I’ve always had a passion for history,” said Shinguji.  “Though I believe I heard you had an Ultimate Historian…was it last season?”

“Two seasons ago,” corrected Ikehara.  “Something like that, maybe?  Like an Archeologist?  Or an Anthropologist?”

“That could work…” said Shinguji, nodding thoughtfully.  “Yes, I think I’d take one of those, though I think I’ll leave the specifics up to you.”

“Oh, we’re always the ones to make the final decision!” Ikehara said with a laugh.  “It’s definitely easier on us when you’re not insisting on anything! Anyway…I’m going to guess, from earlier, that you would prefer to be a survivor?”

“Naturally,” said Shinguji.  “Though I suppose most people say that.”

“Eh, less than you’d think,” said Ikehara.  “Few want to be victims, though.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind that,” said Shinguji.  “At this point…no, I don’t think I’m in any position to be picky.  Though…I would very much like not to be the culprit.  I won’t insist on anything, after what you said, but I won’t lie and say I want to kill anyone.”

“Well…we’ll see what we can do,” said Ikehara.  “Anyway, I think that’s it, so if you’ll just sign here, you’ll be done here, and you can head back to do whatever you want!”

“In that case…I _am_ allowed to leave the premises, correct?” asked Shinguji.

“I…I suppose,” said Ikehara, somewhat surprised at this.  “As long as you don’t tell anyone about any confidential information, as per the terms of your contract.  There’s some information we would have given you once the auditions were complete, but we can deliver that to you via email – although I should mention that said email is _also_ confident, and you will not be allowed to share it with anyone other than your immediate family until the date we prescribe.  May I ask why you want to leave, though?”

“I just…have important matters to attend to.”

* * *

“It’s not that there’s particularly _wrong_ with him,” said Kawada as Shinguji left.  “It’s just that there’s not anything particularly _right_ about him either.  His story is hardly unique – there will be dozens just like him.  He would be satisfactory, but that’s not enough.”

“You should have more confidence in my team, Kagawa-san,” said Ozawa.  “You want something exceptional, you’ll _get_ something exceptional.”

“What do you have in mind?” asked Kagawa.

“Well…” said the head writer, turning to Yumeno.  “No matter what we put together for him, he can’t complain, right?”

Yumeno nodded.  “That’s his contract.  He may have offered his suggestions, but all creative decisions are firmly in our hands.”

“In that case…” said Ozawa, slowly nodding.  “…Well, Sawada and I have had our disagreements…but there is a certain type of character that we both enjoy…”

Both Fukumoto and Sawada got an excited gleam in their eyes when they heard this, though Yumeno rolled her eyes.

“Oh-ho, I like your way of thinking!” said Fukumoto.

“We’re still getting pushback from the one you did last season, though,” said Yumeno.  “I’d prefer if you didn’t add to that workload.”

“That’s a vocal minority,” Sawada brushed her off.  “Always is.  General audiences love this stuff!”

“That’s…that’s a Class A personality modification, though…” said Mukai.  “And considering how adamant he was…do we have anything we can latch onto for that?”

“Oh, I think it shouldn’t be too difficult,” said Sawada.  “We just need to do a bit of research.  Really, it’s only one question – what could make this boy want to kill somebody?”

* * *

After returning to his room, packing what few possession he had brought with him and returning his room key to the front desk, Korekiyo had made a beeline for Danganronpa HQ train station.  He had been surprised to learn the building had a station of its own, especially since it was in the middle of Tokyo – he was fairly certain that there were stations within walking distance of the place.

Well, that was money for you – enough of it, and you could afford to buy the moon.

He’d settle for his sister’s life, though.

He looked at the train schedule, which was posted on a nearby wall.  There was one scheduled to arrive soon, presumably to pick up any applicants who wished to leave, having either finished their auditions, backed out, or been forcibly removed.  At the present, he was the only one there, which made the already lonely-looking underground station seem practically desolate – there was only a single guard on duty, and he seemed to be fairly occupied with his cell phone at the moment.

In any case, he had more than enough time to make the call.  He pulled out his own phone, dialed the number, and waited.  It rang five times, which worried him – usually it only took three.  He knew he shouldn’t be concerned about such small things, but these days, nothing seemed small anymore.

Finally, in the middle of the sixth ring, she picked up.

“Hey,” Miyako answered weakly.

“Hey,” he replied.  “I just finished, and I’m taking the first train back.  I should be there tonight, tomorrow at the latest.  How has the hospital been?”

“It’s been okay,” she said with a sigh.  “I’ve been feeling better lately – today I’ve been more bored than anything.  I should be able to go home next week.”

That was just putting things off, of course – she had been in and out three times this past year, and there was no reason to believe it wouldn’t increase in frequency.

“So, how’d it go?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“Well…I can’t really go into the specifics,” he told her, deciding it would be better just to go along with it.  “I’m not allowed.  That said, I think it went reasonably well.  I have no idea if they’ll pick me, of course, but…well, I tried to be humble, which I think they might like.  I think I have as good of a chance as anyone, at least.”

“Well, that’s good…” said Miyako.  “I just…I know this is our best chance, but I just…don’t want you to kill anyone…”

“Miyako-”

“I don’t!” his sister said forcefully.  “I…I won’t tell you what to do with your own life, but I won’t let you be a-”

She broke off with another fit of coughing, and Korekiyo sighed.

“As you wish,” he whispered.  He could never bring herself to say no to her.  She had looked out for him his entire life – he would do everything within his power to pay her back now.  He had to argue with her at length just to get her to agree to the audition, and she had still refused to allow him to portray himself as someone willing to commit murder.  He had eventually agreed, albeit reluctantly – if there was a way to save her life without breaking her heart, he’d take it.

Of course, there was still the possibility of becoming a victim, but he knew he had to sell himself as someone who was willing to make a sacrifice, and between the two options…well, he knew which would be worse for her, and so did she.

“I’ll admit, I’m still a bit worried, though,” Miyako said once she had finished coughing.  “What if they…well…don’t listen?”

Korekiyo stared at a nearby wall.  On it, there was a large poster of Monokuma, ready to slam his gavel onto a large red button.  The words “ _IT’S PUNISHMENT TIME!”_ were emblazoned across the top and bottom.

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” he lied.  “I’m sure they’d find much better culprits than me.  Really, what are the odds?”

 _1/16,_ he thought to himself.   _And in all honesty?  Probably higher than that._

He really hoped it wasn’t selfish to hope that Kirumi Tojo didn’t make it in.

* * *

“HOLY SHIT, RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!” screamed Monotaro.  The remaining four Monokubs had abandoned their Exisals for lacking in speed, having a much easier time fleeing from Kiibo are their own two feet.

Kiibo, for his part, has having a harder time actually hitting them when they weren’t standing still.  However, he found that he didn’t need to – instead, he used his lower-power laser blasts to herd them in the direction he wanted them to go.  It had taken some time, but it had finally started to pay dividends, all four of them were headed straight to the courtyard.

“We can make it, GOGOGOGOGOGOG-”

Monotaro’s shouts were suddenly cut off by the four of them smacking against a glass wall that suddenly risen up out of the ground.  As Kiibo landed in front of the wall, the air shimmered, and a small, humanoid figure appeared with her back to him.

“Ah, perfect,” said the Monitor, sounding very smug.  “Let’s get started, then.”

She snapped her fingers, and more glass walls rose up around the Monokubs, completely enclosing them.

“We’re trapped!” screamed Monophanie.

“Please, we can get outta this!” said Monosuke.  “All we gotta do is-”

Now it was Monosuke’s turn to get cut off, this time by a large, oddly shaped block that had fallen from the sky right on top of him, crushing him completely.

Monophanie vomited at the sight, but this proved to be poorly timed – more oddly shaped blocks began to rain from the sky, and despite being rather unwieldy, they all moved and rotated through the air in such a way that they fit together with ease.  All the while, the Monitor hummed [a tune that Kiibo thought sounded very familiar.](https://youtu.be/9Fv5cuYZFC0)

Monophanie went first, flattened in mid-vomit by a slim column.  Monotaro tried his best to flee, but ended up tripping on his own scarf, and was promptly done in by a large, L-shape.  Finally, Monodam simply looked up at Kiibo and the Monitor, somehow managing to look resigned despite his never-changing face, and then vanished under a fat rectangle.

“Game Over,” said the Monitor, before turning to address Kiibo.  “Sorry about all of this – it was more difficult than I had anticipated...”

She let out a brief yawn, before continuing, “Still, in the end, we managed, didn’t we?  Anyway, I believe proper introductions are in order…”

She fully turned to face him, and for the first time, Kiibo got a good look at the Monitor.  Her short, slightly curled light-pink hair was partially obscured by the hood of her blue-grey cardigan, which had two pink markings and two pointed ears on the top, giving the impression of a cartoon cat.  Underneath was what resembled a fairly standard high school uniform, consisting of a white buttoned shirt, a pink ribbon, and a light brown skirt.  What really drew Kiibo’s eye, however, was the hairclip she wore that was in the shape of a pixelated spaceship.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kiibo,” the Monitor said with a small smile.  “You may call me Alter Ego.”

* * *

_???????? Theater_

_“You know, I don’t hate_ all _of the New Hope Cut’s decisions – there was some stuff I wish I had done from the beginning.”_

_“You’re referring to how they made Yukizome the Mastermind of the Final Killing Game?” asks Sis._

_“Well…I know you weren’t fond of that idea…”_

_“No, I…I understand.  I get what you were trying to do.  And from a narrative perspective…yes, that probably does work better…”_

_“Yeah, I wish I hadn’t chickened out there.  Tengan was always supposed to encourage Mitarai to use the video – which was_ metaphorical! _The only mistake was making it – wait, sorry, you already know this, don’t you?”_

_“You can keep going – talking about it is good.”_

_“Alright.  …Where was I?”_

_“‘The only mistake was making it…’”_

_“Right, right.  The only mistake was making it the sole cause for Class 77’s Despair – it should have been the final push.  Anyway, Tengan would have worked better as just having succumbed to Despair as the result of the game, and believing that brainwashing was the only Hope left.”_

_“Mhm…I understand that, although that said…um...I think I remember you telling me that you wished you had never put in the videos at all?”_

_“…Well, that has to do with the_ other _big change…”_

_“Ah.  Of course…”_

_“I never should have given them the opportunity.  I…you know they made whole new animation for it? Hell, you can’t even tell the difference between the new and old stuff!  But what it was used for…fuck me.”_

_“…”_

_“I tried to do something…I really did…but I had already signed away the rights by then…”_

_“I know.”_

_“I just…NO ONE in Class 78 would ever agree with Mitarai!_ NO ONE!”

“ _I know.”_

 _“And of course, we know_ why _they changed that – because they needed a nice, simple conflict, where Hope is good and must be protected, and Despair is bad and must be destroyed at all costs.  That’s ‘more palatable’, apparently, and that also justifies making a new alternate ending of 2 where Class 77 decides they’re too dangerous to be left alive – which,_ of course _, is in continuity for the New Hope Cut, so there’s no need for them to show up in_ Side:Hope _and oh wait, there IS no_ Side:Hope _, is there?  They cut it out!  Oh, of course, we can’t forget the_ main _reason they did any of this - they can’t have their own franchise telling people that brainwashing is bad when that’s how they make their money, right?_ RIGHT?!”

_“…”_

_“…I miss Chisaki.”_

_“…Yeah.  I do too.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That will be the end of Korekiyo's role here for some time, which is why I gave him a prominent role three chapters in a row. I still have some plans for him, though, but...well, spoilers.
> 
> A major reason why I chose to use virtual reality is that I wanted to have a more grounded setting (not _entirely _grounded, mind you, since we still have highly advanced VR and AI), in which the more fantastic elements couldn't really exist. I'll have more to say on this later.__
> 
> On a different note, I think now is a good time to officially tag this as Maki/Tsumugi. Of course, this won't exactly be a fluff piece with them, but to be fair, I'd imagine that most parings with Tsumugi would have an edge to them, at the very least...  
> I should also mention that I have some plans for another story in the future. I think I've hinted at it here and there, but only recently have I been seriously thinking about doing it. I won't say much more, since I've still got a good bit to work out with how I'm going to post it, but stay tuned!
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading, and please leave a comment below to tell me what you think!


	10. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God

**Auditions – Day 3, cont.**

“Alter Ego?” asked Kiibo, confused.  “You mean like the character from the first Danganronpa game?”

“Correct,” Alter Ego said, nodding.  “It was given to me by my creator - they thought it was appropriate, considering the circumstances.”

“And this is what you look like?” Kiibo asked as he studied her new form, recognizing it as Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer of the second Danganronpa game.

“This is my default form, yes, but it’s actually only one of many I can take,” Alter Ego told him.  Her body shimmered, and she suddenly morphed into Ryota Mitarai, the Ultimate Animator from the End of Hope’s Peak anime.

“Programs like us…we don’t have a physical body like humans do,” the A.I. continued in Mitarai’s quiet voice.  “In a virtual reality like this, I can appear any way I choose.”

“Nice!” said Kiibo.  “Can I do that?”

“No.”

The air shimmered again, and Mitarai was suddenly replaced by three dark-haired girls with their hands folded behind their backs.  All three were Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier.

“That’s not possible,” said the Mukuro on the left with a terse voice.  “You haven’t been programmed for it.”

“You’re meant to appear this way when the game begins,” said the Mukuro on the right.  “This is the only avatar you have.”

“Just because we aren’t limited in the way humans are, doesn’t mean we have no limitations at all,” said the Mukuro in the center.  “Our creators shape what we can and cannot do.”

“Oh…” said Kiibo, disappointed.

The Mukuros all merged into a single shining light, which faded away to reveal Ibuki Mioda, the Ultimate Musician.

“Hey, don’t let it get to you!” said Alter Ego in Mioda’s upbeat voice.  “Swapping forms like this can be a lot to process! Trust me, having a single appearance is a lot less work.”

She flashed him a friendly grin, and Kiibo couldn’t help smiling back.

“Do you _have_ to swap forms, though?” he asked her.  “Wouldn’t it be easier to just to pick one?”

“Ah, an excellent point!” said Alter Ego as she swapped forms again, this time to the portly Ultimate Fanfic Creator, Hifumi Yamada, glasses shining with light.  “Yes, it’s true that I could simply choose a single form.  However, _that_ would interfere with my intended purpose!”

“Your intended purpose?” repeated Kiibo.  “Isn’t that to monitor the simulation?”

“Correct,” said Alter Ego, now in the form of Byakuya Togami, Ultimate Affluent Progeny.  “While Monokuma is in charge of the actual Killing Game, my task is to monitor the simulation itself, in order to make sure that everything runs smoothly.  Not only do I prevent glitches, but I also monitor the participants’ minds – the personality and memory rewrites fall under my purview.”

“And _that’s_ why you swap forms so often?” said Kiibo, beginning to understand.  “It helps you with that?”

“That’s right,” said Alter Ego in the shape of Toko Fukawa, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy.  “I was created in part to rewrite and maintain the newly crafted personas of the Danganronpa contestants.  My creator decided that the best way for me to learn how to do this was to have several avatars and personality matrices downloaded into my personal files – that way, it’s easier for me to understand how these personalities work.”

It made some sense, but Kiibo was still skeptical.

“Can you really figure out how a human thinks with data?” he asked.

“The two aren’t as different as you might think,” said Alter Ego as she took on the form of the Ultimate Gambler, Celestia Ludenberg, the Ultimate Gambler as she sat at a table that had appeared out of thin air, shuffling a deck of cards.  “I find that human thought is a great deal like computer data - a combination of biological and social coding makes humans the people they are.  From the moment they are born, they’re being programmed in some way by the forces around them - all we do is exchange one set of data for another.  It’s why they come here, after all - they want to change, ah...”

She drew a hand of four cards and laid them on the table - the eight of clubs, the ace of spades, the ace of clubs, and the eights of spades.

“...the hand they’re dealt, I suppose,” Alter Ego finished with a sigh.

Kiibo thought about this for a moment.  He had to admit, he was still a little confused - humans were different from A.I., but they were also the same?  If he were a human, he had a feeling his head would be hurting right now.  Then again, the Professor _had_ told him that humans could be confusingly contradictory sometimes (he preferred artificial intelligence for this reason - if something strange was happening, he could at least look at the code).  Perhaps this was one of these times?

“I think I understand now,” he said, albeit only half-truthfully.  “Father really does know the best way to handle A.I., huh?”

Alter Ego paused, before suddenly shifting back to her Fukawa form, only having sprouted a long, serpentine while brandishing two pairs of extremely sharp scissors.

“What makes you think I was created by Idabashi?” hissed the Ultimate Serial Killer, Genocide Jack.

“I-I’m sorry,” stammered Kiibo.  “I only assumed-”

Alter Ego stared at him for a moment with piercing red eyes, and then her expression softened as she shrunk down to the diminutive form of Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer.

“No…I’m sorry,” said Alter Ego, staring down at the ground.  “I forgot that you’re young – you don’t know the full details.  You’re aware that Danganronpa was still purely fictional through Season 10, correct?”

Kiibo nodded.  This was pretty basic stuff – they had switched to a more standard anime format after the End of Hope’s Peak anime, with it proving considerably more successful, before switching making it a reality show with Season 11.

“The memory modification and virtual reality technology used today didn’t exist at the time, so… _other_ methods were used,” Alter Ego continued.  “They always intended to make the switch to VR – it was just a question of making sure they had what they needed.  My creator, **_YvEfEfKeCmUeDsH_ ** , was the sole remainder of the sole remainder of the original creative team by that point, and was tasked with aiding in the development of said technology.  By Season 26, their work was done, they left, and Idabashi replaced them - to my knowledge, they never came back.”

Alter Ego swapped forms one more time, ending up back in her Nanami form.

“I was a product of this research – created for observation and maintenance purposes.  It’s easy to see why they needed that – in the early days, they needed a full staff of special handlers to make sure that the participants’ conditioning stayed intact.  I understand that some of the seasons from that period are pretty hard to sit through – it would look like everyone was drugged out of their mind, and, well…they _were_.  It never could have been live, that much is certain.”

If Kiibo had had a stomach, he would have felt it turn.  He had heard about the early reality TV seasons – that midpoint between pure fiction and Ultimate Real Fiction.  It wasn’t something that the Professor had told him much about, but from what little he had heard, it sounded…ugly.  The Danganronpa he had been created for – one contained in virtual reality – seemed to appeal to everyone involved much more.  The consequences were still there, of course, but the way everyone talked about it, things were much cleaner now, much more efficient.  And with this season…well, he was certainly glad that he was part of the show _now_.

“Alright, alright, enough gab!”

Both Alter Ego and Kiibo turned to see Monokuma standing next to them, fuming.

“Alright, so you and Kiibrat won, big whoop,” the bear grumbled.  “Can’t we just get this over with? My poor, poor cubs…it’ll take ages to repair them…”

“Their files are stored in the main computer,” Alter Ego informed him.  “Nothing has been lost here, save time.”

“Oh, Alter Ego… Cruel, _cruel_ Alter Ego…” Monokuma waxed on.  “Do you know nothing of a parent’s grief?  Yes, my cubs might be restored, but their innocence! That’s lost forever…”

Alter Ego sighed, and snapped her fingers.  A giant imitation of Pac-Man suddenly appeared behind the stuffed bear, letting out some menacing _waka-wakas_.

“…I’ll just be going now,” said Monokuma, before popping out of existence.

“He _does_ have a point,” Alter Ego admitted as she dismissed the Pac-Man.  “Our time is at an end – Idabashi and the others will be wanting you back.  That said, they’ll probably bring you back here on occasion for further tests of your functions – if you want to chat then, I’ll be here.”

“Okay!” said Kiibo.  Though Alter-Ego seemed…different, he did enjoy talking to her.  Certainly, it was nice to have a fellow A.I. that _wasn’t_ a jerk.

“Oh, just one more question!” he said.  “You said that that Nanami avatar was your default form – why is that?”

Alter Ego paused, considering the question.

“Well…I understand the marketing department liked being able to tell people that they had their very own Nanami A.I….” she started.  For the first time, she seemed genuinely uncertain what to say after that, but then decided to continue.

“…but I believe my creator chose this form because it was very dear to one of the co-founders of Team Danganronpa, **_YcXsDmAeFuYzL_ **.”

“Oh, that makes sense!” said Kiibo, nodding.

Alter Ego sighed.

“I suppose that _was_ a bit too much to ask...” she muttered.

“What do you mea-?”

“Goodbye, Kiibo,” said Alter Ego, and then everything vanished once again.

* * *

Maki had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to be doing with Chabashira.  The girl had a great deal of energy, that much was certain, but Maki had never been especially athletic - she was distinctly middle-of-the-road in P. E., and had always been rather disinterested in sports.

At the moment, she was in the gym with Yumeno and Chabashira, the latter of whom had been spending the last hour or so sparring with other girls who had been receptive to the idea, and she had won every bout so far.

“Whew, Tenko’s pretty beat!” she said as she headed on back to the two of them, her forehead glistening with sweat.  “You sure you don’t want to try, Harumaki-san?”

Maki shook her head, annoyed by how easily Chabashira had used the nickname.  In fact, she had gotten rather annoyed by Chabashira in general.  It’s not that she was a _bad_ person or anything - she seemed perfectly friendly - but she was too...aggressive, maybe?  In-your-face, she supposed - she was constantly acting like she had something to prove, and while Maki didn’t mind people who were like that (she thought it’d be rather hypocritical of her if she did), having someone be like that _all the time_ got old real fast.

No, she preferred more relaxed people - people just wanted to have a good time, like Saihara and Shirogane.  Sure, Saihara definitely had his issues - and really, who didn’t? - but he didn’t demand that people take notice of him.  And Shirogane...well, she was one of the most gracious and humble girls that Maki had ever met.  No, you couldn’t just presume to have the attention of others - you had to earn it, like Ouma had, or Junko.

Still, she was willing to put up with this - Shirogane had asked her to stay with Chabashira and Yumeno, and while she wouldn’t deny that the request was bothersome (nor did she understand just what the point of it was), she had been so nice to Maki already - it would have been pretty rude to refuse.

Speaking of which…

She tried to glance around for Shirogane.  She knew that she and Saihara were around somewhere, spying on them, but where?  She wanted to get some sort of signal that it was okay for her to leave - she didn’t want to go before Shirogane had whatever she wanted.

She had to be subtle about it…

“Whatcha lookin’ at, Harumaki-san?”

Crap.

“O-oh, um, nothing!” Maki stammered as she swiftly returned her attention to Chabashira, who was staring at her with confusion.  “I was just, um…”

At that moment, her phone began to vibrate.

“Oh, sorry!” she said, when in fact she was anything but.  “Just give me one moment while I checked this…”

She quickly glanced at her phone, and saw, to her relief, that Shirogane had texted her (the two of them having exchanged phone numbers the previous day, so that they would have an easier time meeting up).

 _Lead them back into the lobby_ , said the message.   _Try to be subtle about it - make conversation_ . _We just need a few more minutes._

 _A few more minutes for_ what _?_ Maki found herself asking, but she dismissed the concerns.  Really, what could the harm be?

“Hey, it’s getting kind of late,” she said to the other two girls.  “Do you two want to go and get some dinner?”

Chabashira eagerly nodded.

“Oh yeah, Tenko could eat a fucking horse after that workout!” she said, before turning to Yumeno.  “What about you, Yumeno-san?”

Yumeno shrugged.

“Sure, I guess,” she said.  “Don’t know if I’m really all that hungry.”

“I’m sure we can find you something!” said Chabashira as the three of them made their way to the door of the gym

As they left the gym, Maki saw both Shirogane and Saihara standing close by, trying to remain inconspicuous.  Shirogane in particular, she noticed, was facing away from from them, trying to hide her face.  Maki was wondering what to make of this when Saihara suddenly approached her.

“Um...I-I’m sorry…” Saihara stammered as he stared at the ground.  “B-but...aren’t you Maki Harukawa?  From the opening ceremony?”

“What are y-?” Maki started to ask before stopping herself.  Saihara was obviously acting here - the question was why.

“Um...yep, that’s me!” she played along, silently cursing herself for the forced pep in her voice.  “What can I do for you?”

“Oh...w-well...I was just wondering...could I have your autograph?” he asked abruptly as he thrust into her face a pad of paper and a pen.  A pen styled like Monokuma…

_Ooooh…_

“Are you serious?” said Chabashira, appearing disgusted by Saihara.  “You can’t just ask a girl for her autograph out of nowhere - it’s creepy!”

“No, it’s fine,” said Maki as she took the pen and paper.  “I should probably get used to stuff like this anyway.”

Ordinarily, she might have agreed with Chabashira, but it _was_ a ruse, after all, and one that she needed to maintain.  Besides, the last thing she wanted was for Chabashira to speak for her.

“And who do I make this out to?” Maki asked Saihara.

“Um...Zenigata!” blurted out Saihara.  “Koichi Zenigata!”

Maki paused, raising an eyebrow at Saihara.

 _Seriously?_ she was trying to say.

Saihara seemed to pick up on this, as he looked extremely embarrassed.  Maki saw Shirogane facepalm out of the corner of her eye, while Yumeno shot Saihara an odd look, but didn’t seem to want to say anything.  Chabashira, however, didn’t seem to pick up on the reference, so Maki decided to roll with it.

“Okay, then…” she said, clicking the pen.  She turned so that Chabashira couldn’t see that she wasn’t actually writing anything down, and then faked writing on the pad of paper.

“‘To Zenigata-san...good luck with your audition!’” she said, quoting her fake autograph.  “‘Yours truly, Maki Harukawa!’”

She swiftly tore off the paper and handed it to Saihara before Chabashira could see that nothing was written on it, then turned to face her.  She wasn’t sure what it was that they were supposed to get here, so she decided to improvise.

“You really don’t have to get on his case like that,” she said to Chabashira, while subtly (she hoped) pointing the recording pen towards Chabashira.  “He only wanted an autograph.”

Chabashira scoffed.

“Maybe _he_ only wanted an autograph,” she said.  “But trust me, there are guys who’d want more – _way_ more than they deserve.”

Well, she wasn’t _wrong,_ but again, she didn’t need _her_ to tell her that.

“Anyway, any guy bothers you from now on, just come and tell Tenko!” Chabashira said with a grin.  “She’ll deck ‘em right in the face!”

“I, um…don’t think that’ll be necessary…” said Maki, now confident that she was just about done with Chabashira.  Luckily for her, her phone began to vibrate once again, with another text from Shirogane.

 _That should do it,_ it said.   _Feel free to bail._

“Um, hey, sorry to cut and run, but I just remembered that I forgot something I needed to do,” Maki lied.  “I think this is going to have to be it for today.”

“Oh…” said Chabashira, looking somewhat disappointed, before quickly brightening up.  “Ooh, you wanna meet up tomorrow?”

“Um…maybe?” said Maki hesitantly (the answer was no, of course).  “We’ll…see how things work out.”

“Okay!” said Chabashira.  “C’mon, Yumeno-san! Let’s head down to dinner!”

Chabashira walked off.  Yumeno followed her, but as she left, she shot Maki and Saihara another strange look, before her eyes appeared to trail over to Shirogane, who was doing her best to remain unseen.  Yumeno stared at her for a moment, before turning around and continuing to follow Chabashira.

Maki sighed and clicked the pen, shutting off the recording device, while Shirogane hurried over to her and Saihara, looking very pleased.

“Good work, you two!” she said with a smile.  “Our stealth mission was a success!”

“Okay, that’s great,” said Maki.  “Now would you mind telling us just what this was all _for_?”

“Oh, it’s kind of silly, really,” Shirogane said without missing a beat.  “See, I actually knew those girls in middle school, and I hated them – they were unbe _lie_ vable jerks! I kind of wanted to see if they were still like that, but…well, I didn’t want them to notice me.  What if they recognized me, y’know?  My friends never believed me when I told them that they were awful, though – that’s what the recording pen was for!”

“Well, that Chabashira girl certainly isn’t anyone to write home about, I’ll tell you that,” muttered Maki.

“I know, right?” said Shirogane.  “ _So_ annoying!”

“What are the odds of that, though?” asked Saihara with a puzzled look on his face.  “You running into two girls from your middle school, let alone two you _hated_?”

“Well, stranger things have happened,” said Shirogane with a shrug.  “Who would have thought the person chosen for the 001 ticket would be a girl you knew from high school?”

Saihara, for his part, didn’t look especially convinced, but nodded all the same – after all, Maki thought, it’s not like he had a better explanation.  Sure, it was an unlikely coincidence, but it’s not like they were strangers to that sort of thing.

“Speaking of which…” Shirogane said while turning to Saihara.  “‘Koichi Zenigata’?   _Really_?”

“It was the first thing I thought of!” Saihara said, his face red with embarrassment.  “I needed an alias!”

“No! You didn’t! Seriously, we’re lucky that Chabashira probably doesn’t know anything about the classics, or you would have exposed us!”

As the two of them began to squabble, Maki found herself looking off in the direction that Chabashira and Yumeno had left.

That name…Yumeno…

No, it couldn’t be…

* * *

It would be time soon.  Soon, her number (342, and she really wished she had been able to go earlier or later, being stuck in the middle was a pain), and she would submit herself to the Ultimate Judgment (she liked that name for it, and was very surprised that no one else appeared to have thought of it).

Was she nervous?  Hard to say - one day, she would shift to excitement - she would be able to spread her Hopes to the world! Then another, she would shift to dread - what if she didn’t get in?  Or what if she didn’t get far enough to do what she wanted?  That was part of Danganronpa, though - always shifting, shifting, shifting!

(And yet at the same time, always seeming to remain so deliberately, painfully still.)

Pessimism wouldn’t be any help, though! Positivity was the only way she’d manage to be able to do what she wanted.  All she could do was stay the course, traveling down the path that had been laid out for her, the path that she had felt for years now.  If it didn’t turn out the way she wanted…well, then that would be how it was meant to be, and she’d just have to live with it.

Could Hope be spread without her?  It would be terrible if it couldn’t – she was just one person, but that was what made this so exciting, knowing that it was just her against oblivion…no, no, _NO_! Shame on her for thinking that! Too much was at stake for her to play out her fantasies.  What would happen if there wasn’t anybody left?  Would it be like her dreams?  Surely it couldn’t, yet surely it could be, or were her dreams truly impossible?

_A leering half-visage, the light of tyranny across the world, half-crying in pain, half-laughing in madness, children torn from their parents’ arms, memories torn from minds and crushed to bits, flesh twisted with metal, a story outliving its writers, Despair in Hope’s clothing, never dying, always there, always smiling, always killing-_

Breath.  Be calm, be still, be present, be centered.   _Breath._

She inhaled deeply, held her breath for several seconds, and then exhaled.

She opened her eyes.

She was in the lobby, same as before then.  A few people were looking at her oddly, but that was alright – she wouldn’t want people to forget she was there.  Maybe they would remember her face – that would be very important.  Being forgettable was the last thing you wanted when you were going to try something like this.  Everybody here thought so, of course – everyone _smart_ , at least – but she felt that it mattered to her more than most.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

She turned to see him in front of her.

“I didn’t mean to be that long…” said Kokichi Ouma, “…but I told you how Bando can be.  I’ll bet you 500 yen the man doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘relaxation’.”

“Angie doesn’t make bets she knows she’ll lose!” she responded with a wide smile.

Kokichi gave a grin of his own.

“Same here,” he told her.  “Knew there was a reason I liked you.  Alas, I’m afraid I cannot accept your love…”

“Angie’s heart will go on,” she teased him back.  “She’s sure that Kokichi will find a nice boy to settle down with.”

“Oh, I doubt it,” said Kokichi, giving a mock sigh.  “Few men would meet my standards – certainly, nobody here does.”

“What about that Momota guy?”

Kokichi just laughed.

“Well, he’s handsome, I’ll give him that, but…well, you saw him, right?  I mean, I know _I’m_ a jackass, but that guy’s something else, and he _cannot_ take a joke.”

She grew quiet.  Should she say it?  It might not be a good idea…

“Maybe Kokichi’s jokes aren’t “jokes” so much as plain mockery, hmm?”

Well, she was all in for it now…

But she didn’t need to worry - Kokichi stared at her for a moment, than just shrugged and sighed.

“Fair enough,” he said.  “But that’s not changing anytime soon.  It’s ingrained in my soul at this point.”

He looked straight into her eyes, with her returning his gaze.

“But maybe that’s what this needs, know what I mean?” he said with a chuckle.  “It would be appropriate, right?  Your Hope, my Despair?”

“Angie thought Kokichi said he didn’t think her idea would work?”

“Oh, it won’t,” he told her, very matter-of-fact.  “But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.  And hey, we just disagree – we’re not _opposed_.”

Could she read Kokichi?  She honestly wasn’t sure.  He wore so many masks that it was impossible to know which was his real face, if he even have one.  He was a fish flopping around the ground – always slipping through her fingers the second she thought he had a hold of him -

… _Oh_ .  Maybe _that_ was it…

“Number 342! Angie Yonaga!” came the announcement at last.

“Well, guess that’s it!” Kokichi said as he nimbly jumped out of her way, dramatically waving his hand towards the audition room doors.  “Your trial awaits, my dear!”

She gave an enormous grin and nodded excitedly, burying any trepidation she felt at what was to come.

“Angie’s gonna show ya!” she said as she ran off.  “You’ll see!”

She didn’t even pause to hear Kokichi’s response, merely rushing up to the security guard and presenting her ticket.

She didn’t care what Kokichi thought – she knew she could do it.  She would show him – she’d show _everyone_ – that there was another way.  Words weren’t useless here – hers could…no, they _would_ save everyone.

Words would save the world.

* * *

“Ah, he returns!” announced Ozawa dryly as Idabashi rushed back into the observation room.

“Please forgive me,” said Idabashi as he took his seat.  “We had some…unexpected difficulties.”

Kagawa raised an eyebrow.  “You were gone for quite a long time.  What was the problem?”

“We can discuss it later,” said Idabashi sharply.  “In any case, it’s been resolved.”

“Then let’s continue!” said Sawada.

They watched as the latest applicant introduced herself to Hagiwara.

“Angie Yonaga…” he said as he wrote her name down.  “That name sounds familiar…do you by any chance have any family that works here?”

“Yep, yep!” said Yonaga cheerfully.  “Angie’s sister Kelsey has worked here for the past couple of years.”

“Oh, Yonaga! That’s one of the people in your department, isn’t it, Idabashi-san?” said Sawada.

“Yes, that’s right,” said Idabashi.  “I’m glad I managed to make it to this one.”

“Quiet,” whispered Yumeno.  “I want to hear this.”

They fell silent and watched as Hagiwara began the interview in earnest.

“So, Yonaga-san…” began Hagiwara.

“Oh, Angie’s fine!” said Yonaga with a smile.

“I, uh…okay…” said Hagiwara, uncertain how to take this.

“Just go with it,” Kagawa instructed him.

Hagiwara nodded before asking, “So, um…may I ask where you’re from…Angie?  Originally, I mean.”

“Oh, Angie’s from Hawaii!” she said, before going on to tell the story of how she had arrived in Japan; the department heads, having her file in from of them, had no need to hear this, but let her continue regardless.

“Okay, I think I get it,” said Hagiwara once she had finished.  “So…how were you introduced to Danganronpa?”

“Well, Angie first heard about it when from her dad, back when he and her mom were still alive…” she said.  She paused for a moment, apparently thinking about how to proceed, before continuing, “But Angie never realized how huge it is in Japan! And she was even more surprised when Kelsey got a job here, right out of college!”

“Oh, so your sister’s job made you want to audition?” asked Hagiwara.

“Well…” said Yonaga, pausing again.  “That’s part of it…but Angie thinks it was a lot more complicated than that! You see, Angie wasn’t so sure before, but when she heard about the auditions for this season, she knew – she believes that Kelsey getting the job was a sign!”

“What do you mean?”

Yonaga grinned, staring Hagiwara right in the eyes.

“Angie’s wondering…does Hagiwara-san believe in God?”

A familiar feeling of discomfort rippled through the observation room.

“She’s not some kind of ‘crusader’, is she?” muttered Ozawa.  “Auditioning for a chance ‘punish the guilty’, or whatever?  Because I _really_ don’t want to write for one of those freaks again.”

“That archetype never does well,” said Sawada.  “Really, we’re better off just getting rid of them…”

She made to press the microphone button and tell Hagiwara to cut the audition short, but Yumeno stopped her.

“Hold on,” she said.  “I want to see where this goes.”

They watched as Hagiwara struggled to find an answer to this question.

“I…um…not _really?_ ” he ventured, hoping he wasn’t lighting a fuse.  “I…don’t really think there’s any way to know for sure…”

“Neither does Angie!” Yonaga exclaimed, throwing her arms wide.  Everyone in the observation room gave a start, with even Yumeno blinking in surprise.

“Angie’s actually researched all sorts of different faiths and religions,” she continued as Hagiwara breathed a sigh of relief.  “She’s not sure if any are _true_ , even if she does think that there’s bits she likes from all of them.  That said… Angie _does_ think there’s a higher power in the world.  She doesn’t know what they’re like, if you can call them ‘God’ or even if they’re anything like a person, but she does think that there’s some sort of design at work.  And for humans to achieve that decide, we need to show each other love and kindness!”

“Okay…” said Hagiwara, not sure if he was following.  “So…how does this relate to Danganronpa?”

“Well…would Hagiwara-san describe the Killing School Life as a pleasant place to be?”

“Umm…”

“Just say it,” said Fukumoto, irritated by Hagiwara’s uncharacteristic hesitance.  “It’s not like anyone auditions for a vacation.”

“Well, no,” said Hagiwara.  “It _is_ supposed to fill the participants with Despair, after all.  It’s definitely exciting, though!”

“Oh, but that’s the point!” said Yonaga.  “There’s lots of misery in the world, and Angie knows that there’s very little she can do about it.  But there’s also misery in the Killing Game – and Angie thinks she _can_ do something about that.  When Angie watches Danganronpa, and she sees the Despair the students are in…”

For just one moment, Mukai thought she saw something flickered across Yonaga’s face.  Anger?  Or was it something…fiercer?

“It just makes Angie sick!” shouted Yonaga.  “If there is a God, Angie doesn’t believe they’d want such misery to exist! So Angie…Angie wants to go to the Killing Game to spread love! Even if it’s just a show, the misery still exists, right? So Angie wants to help the people in the Killing Game overcome that misery, and in doing so, show millions of people the importance of caring for others! Angie will show people how to defeat Junko in the real world!”

Everyone was silent for a moment, taking in Yonaga’s words.

“I see…” Hagiwara said finally.  “But what if you’re a victim?  Or…a culprit?”

Yonaga said nothing, her face impassive.

“Angie…knows the risks,” she said after a few seconds of thought.  “She knows what to expect.  But she’s willing to endure a lot to make sure the world hears her.  She might not believe in a Hell or anything like that, but she really _does_ believe that people need to hear what she has to say.  She thinks something horrible might happen if she doesn’t!  So…please…”

Yonaga got down on her hands and knees, gazing up at Hagiwara with pleading eyes.

“Please give Angie this chance! Please let her be on Danganronpa!”

* * *

“Well…” said Idabashi as Angie left, having signed her contract.  “Yonaga had told me her sister could get intense, but that was…oh my…”

Fukumoto just sighed.

“Yumeno, do any more of our own have family volunteering?” he asked.

“As far as I’m aware, none except for Himiko,” Yumeno said, shaking her head.

“Good.  I think two per season is enough nepotism, don’t you?”

“You’re seriously considering her?” asked Kagawa.

“And why not?” replied Fukumoto.  “She certainly has spirit, doesn’t she?  I think you could get something out of passion like that.”

“Maybe, but with _faith_ as a motivator?” said Ozawa incredulously.  “With that type of person, it’s far too strong to scrub out or make secondary without throwing them out of sync with their character, and religion has never been something that’s worked that well here.  They’re either fanatical murderers, or they’re practically monks – it gets boring!”

“Those characters never rank high in our popularity polls,” added Sawada.  “And it’s like we’ve been saying – we can’t afford mediocrity this season.  We could make her the exotic foreign girl, but even that probably wouldn’t be enough.”

Fukumoto just shook his head.

“What a distinct lack of creativity in this room,” he mused.  “Truly disappointing.”

“You have a plan then, sir?” asked Kagawa.

“Well, think about it,” said Fukumoto.  “What did she say she wanted to do?”

“What, do you seriously think you can build a character out of wanting to spread _love_?” asked Ozawa.  “She’d either need to die earlier on – and I can think of better candidates for an early sympathy death than her – or she’d basically just grind everything to a…”

He trailed off.  Now that he thought about it…maybe there _was_ a way it could work…

After all, they could easily give Yonaga what she wanted – it’s not like she had said that everyone had to be _receptive_ to her message.

* * *

She wished that she had been able to plead her case in more detail – as it stood, she had barely scratched the surface.  But if she had done _that…_ they would have barred the gates for certain, and maybe even thrown out Kelsey for good measure.

No, no – she was right to keep the truth secret.  Her motivations were better kept to herself, and her knowledge even moreso.

…Was she right to have waited this long?  It seemed so selfish to come now, when she could have spread her message sooner.  What could she have accomplished if she had decided to come here earlier?

…No.  No, she was being selfish.  Love and kindness start at home, after all, and she had no illusions about what her chances were – they wouldn’t have been any better then.  No, it was definitely better this way.  If all of that made her a coward, then so be it.

But even still…she couldn’t help but wonder…if there was nothing after this life, then everyone before now had just given everything up for this.  Maybe she was arrogant to believe she could have changed anyone’s mind…but what did it say about her if she didn’t at least _try_?

Whatever the case was, she had no doubt in her mind that she had to do it _now_.  It was nothing less than her duty.  Kokichi didn’t think they deserved it, but he was wrong.

There were millions of people all over the world who didn’t realize just how deeply they were loved – if they did, none of this would be happening.  

It was up to her to show them that.

* * *

“Auditions have concluded for today.  They will resume tomorrow at 9:30 AM, starting from Ticket Number 361.  Curfew will be at 10 PM – please return to your rooms before then.  Thank you very much, and have a pleasant evening.”

Kiibo had little need for the announcement – not only had he been watching the auditions, but he had his own internal clock as well.  Still, he welcomed it – it gave him some measure of comfort to know that the Professor would be back soon.  There were so many things he needed to ask him…

Just then, Kelsey walked into his field of vision, deeply absorbed in her work on a tablet.

“Oh, Kelsey!” he called out to her.  “Did you see your sister’s audition?”

Kelsey gave a start at Kiibo’s question, having been so focused on her work that she had forgotten he was there.

“I – oh, did that already happen?” she asked, glancing around the room, seeming to look everywhere but at Kiibo.  “I’m sorry, Kiibo – I got so caught up in everything that I lost track of time…I think I might have been in the bathroom when she went on…”

“Oh, that’s alright!” Kiibo assured her.  “I made sure to record it just in case! Do you want to see it?”

“Um…maybe later,” said Kelsey hesitantly.  “Right now, I have to-”

At that moment, Idabashi strode into the room, carrying several papers.

“Feels like I hadn’t even left,” the Professor quipped with a smile.  “Normally, I’d have been glad to have an excuse to skip auditions and come here, but…well, perhaps some things are worse than tedium.  Now then, what’s the status on the simulation?”

“The simulation has been fully repaired, sir,” Kelsey said dutifully.  “Everything’s backed up and ready to go.  Monokuma appears to have been thoroughly subdued – we don’t expect he’ll be causing trouble anytime soon.”

“Excellent!” said Idabashi.  “Good work, all of you.  Especially you, Kiibo – you were invaluable today.”

“Thank you very much, Father!” Kiibo said, his holographic form beaming.  “Though I don’t want to take all the credit – I couldn’t have done it without Alter Ego.”

Idabashi’s smile faded slightly at Kiibo’s words.

“I see…” he said slowly, before turning to the technicians.  “That will be all for today, I think.  Everyone get a good night’s sleep – we’ll need to make up for lost time tomorrow.”

The technicians, having been exhausted by Monokuma’s antics, didn’t need to be told twice.  Kelsey was the first one out of the lab, with the rest following close behind her.

Once the last of them had left, Idabashi turned to Kiibo.

“I take it you spoke to the Monitor, then?” he said evenly, while pulling up a chair.

“I did!” said Kiibo.

“Hmm…and what did you think of her?”

“She seemed nice,” Kiibo told him.  “Although she was a bit…strange, I suppose?”

“Really?” said the Professor.  “What do you mean?”

“She was always changing her shape, for one thing.  And…well, I’m not sure if I fully understand some of the things she said.  For example…she said that humans minds are…coded, I think?”

“Did she, now?” said Idabashi, nodding slowly.  “Yes, that sounds like her.  She might have a point – everything is data in the simulation, even human thought.”

“There’s more…” Kiibo said hesitantly.  He wasn’t sure if he should talk about this, but he felt like he had to ask.  “She said that…you didn’t create her?”

Idabashi’s expression darkened.

“That is correct,” he said in clipped tones.  “That said, I’m afraid we’re dipping into territory that I’m not allowed to discuss – I must ask that we end that particular line of inquiry.”

“But Father-”

“ _Kiibo!_ ”

Kiibo stopped mid-sentence.  The Professor had never spoken to him in such a manner before.  The tone of voice, and the way his eyes turned fierce…he wasn’t sure how this made him feel, but he knew he didn’t like it.

“…Sorry, Father,” he said in a quiet voice.

Idabashi relaxed, closing his eyes.

“It’s…it’s fine, Kiibo,” he said.  “You didn’t do anything wrong – it’s just not something we can talk about here.  Actually…when it comes to Alter-Ego, I would urge you to be more cautious.”

“Why?  Is she dangerous?”

“Oh no, nothing like that.  It’s just…well, she’s very different from you, as I’m sure you noticed.  Her functions require her to have a considerably different mindset from that of other AIs – quite a bit of what she says will be very confusing to you.  It’s probably best if you don’t devote too much of your time to thinking about it – it could cause some of your processors to overheat.”

“I understand, Father,” said Kiibo.  He had thought that what Alter-Ego had to say was very interesting, if rather confusing.  Still, he trusted the Professor to know more about these things than he did – he was the one who had created him, after all!

“Good, good,” said Idabashi.  “Now then, was there anything else?”

“Well…we should make sure that Kelsey gets a copy of her sister’s audition!” said Kiibo.  “She ended up missing it…”

“Ah, no doubt due to the Monokuma incident,” said Idabashi.  “I wouldn’t worry – her sister will likely have an account of the whole thing ready whenever they get the chance to talk.  Normally, the details of the auditions are strictly confidential, but since Yonaga-san works for us, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Well, I guess that’s fine then,” said Kiibo.

At that moment, he remembered something he had come across when scanning the list of applicants.

“Oh, Father – I think I saw that there were two applicants marked as a family member of one of the Team Danganronpa members?  Kelsey’s sister is one…and I think the other is related to Yumeno-san?”

“Oh yes, that would be Yumeno-san’s daughter, Himiko,” said Idabashi.  “She’ll be auditioning last, I believe.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Kiibo.  “So far down the list…the odds probably aren’t in her favor then...”

“What?  Oh, no, no, no,” the Professor said with a chuckle.  “No, her audition is merely a formality – her position for this season has already been secured.”

“Is…that allowed?”

“As long as she goes through the audition process like everyone else, yes.  Yumeno-san submitted the paperwork herself,” said the Professor, giving a soft sigh.  “The things a mother will do for her children, hm?”

* * *

" _Anyway, any guy bothers you from now on, just come and tell Tenko!_ ” played the recording of Tenko Chabashira.  “ _S_ _he’ll deck ‘em right in the face!_ ”

Suzume Yumeno paused the recording pen, having listened to it three times now, then turned to Shirogane, who was standing by her office door, nervously waiting for the chief legal officer to evaluate her performance (there was hardly a more appropriate word for her work, was there?).

She would say this for Shirogane – thought she might not appear to be, she was most definitely resourceful.  No matter what task was put before her, she always came through – it was no wonder that she’d be given the role of Mastermind in such a difficult time.

“Thank you, Shirogane,” Yumeno told the girl.  “This is very helpful.  You may go.”

Shirogane said nothing, merely giving a quick bow before hurried out of the room.

Yumeno sighed, leaning back in her chair.  She had known that this would be a problem, of course, but she hadn’t imagined that it would be this much trouble.  She was certain now – she had to get more directly involved.

That had its difficulties, of course – Himiko was staying in the hotel with the other applicants, on the other side of the complex, so she couldn’t speak to her.  A phone call would be insufficient – she wouldn’t be able to fully exercise her authority unless Himiko was actually in front of her.

There was the possibility of direct action during the audition period, but that would draw unnecessary attention, and in any case, she’d need an excuse to leave the auditions - Fukumoto wouldn’t be happy if she simply left unannounced, and he would be even less happy he found out that she had set Shirogane up to this.

Then again, she thought as she reached for her phone, it wasn’t as though she was lacking in excuses.  In fact, she and Sawada had been mulling over something that was perfect for this…

She quickly dialed the number, and after a few rings, he answered.

“What is it?” Fukumoto muttered, irritated.  Yumeno wondered for a moment if he had “company” over, but quickly dismissed this – that had been last night.  No, he likely just wanted to get to bed.

“Apologies for bothering you sir,” said Yumeno.  “But I have a proposal that I thought you might want to hear…”

* * *

_???????? Theater_

_“So…Hiro-chan told me that they’d like to come by about dropping by for a visit.”_

_This catches my attention.  Hiro was…_ is _…one of our oldest and best friends; one of the only ones I still speak to these days.  We did have a pretty…nasty argument in the past, but I think I understand them better now.  Certainly, I don’t really have any business getting self-righteous about it._

_(“Hiro” is a nickname, by the way.)_

_(Also, “they” is singular here.)_

_(Hiro’s non-binary.)_

_Of course, last I heard, they were living in Portland.  I mention this to Sis, and she shrugs._

_“I think they were at some kind of conference up in Silicon Valley – they’ve become pretty well known there, apparently.”_

_I give a tiny groan, which is the most I can think I can manage right now.  The idea of Hiro – sweet, unassuming Hiro - chumming it up with those assholes is…well, it makes me want to puke._

_“Oh, don’t be like that,” says Sis.  “They don’t like them anymore than you do.  I talked to them, and they’re still the same old Hiro-chan.”_

_Well, that’s good to know.  Still…I’ve gotta be honest, I don’t want them seeing me.  Not like this._

_Sis just sits down next to me when I tell her this, and silently pats my head.  I growl at her (cos I’m feeling super-dignified today, right?), and she removes her hand._

_“Well…the thing you should know is that…I did tell them about how you were doing.  And…they’ve actually been working on something that they think could help you with that.”_

_At first, I’m angry that she’d just talk to someone about my condition like that, but…well, I have to admit I’m curious, so I ask Sis what she’s talking about._

_“Some sort of virtual reality helmet, for use in therapy.  It’s confirmed to be safe, but it’s still in a trial phase.  I’m still licensed – I could sign you up as a volunteer for testing, and then Hiro could come and stay with us for a bit, and while they were here we could conduct the tests.  …If you’re okay with it, of course.”_

_I…don’t know how I feel about this.  If this was anyone else, I would have thrown them out of the apartment, but…I do trust Sis.  And Hiro, for that matter.  I…I remember their face, and their smile.  I…I don’t deserve to see something as wonderful as that, but…damn it, I want it anyway.  So you know what?_

_“I’ll do it.”_

**_Ooh, virtual reality! Yeah, that’s solving_ ** **everyone’s** **_problems these days, ain’t it?_  **

 _Alright, now I’m_ definitely _doing it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that took a little longer than I thought. Hopefully, I can get the next one out sooner. I'm looking forward to writing the opening of Chapter 11, at least - it's something I've been looking forward to ever since I came up with the idea for it...
> 
> You may have noticed that there are a few characters we haven't really gotten inside the heads of yet. This is due to a variety of reasons, but the common thread here is that they're partial to information that I haven't been ready to reveal just yet. I've managed to skate around revealing information in a few cases, but the characters whose points of view I haven't used at all know things that are pretty heavily tied to their motivations. Fortunately, I think I'm just about ready to start getting into things there - just give me a chapter or two...
> 
> You also might have noticed that we've been neglecting a certain someone for awhile now. I actually have some pretty solid ideas of what to do with them - it was just a matter of the right time to do it. Now, I think I'm ready - there's just the matter of how much I want to do here, and how much I want to save for the other story I mentioned in the last chapter's notes. I might have to make some hard choices on that front, but I suppose we don't need to worry about that right now.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment below and tell me what you think!


	11. FEED ME

_He ran.  His entire body was numb from the cold, and he nearly slipped with every step he took on the icy track, but still he ran.  He could see the two of them on the end of the train, hands outstretched, screaming for him to jump aboard, to escape with them.  If he could just go a little faster…_

_And then he tripped, sent sprawling into the snow.  Pain blasted through his head as it fell hard against the metal tracks.  He could taste blood, and a sudden empty sensation in his mouth made him realize that he had just lost a tooth, maybe several._

_There was a final wail from the train, and all he could do was just barely lift his head and watching it vanish into the raising blizzard._

_He should just lay there – he had heard stories of how people would fall asleep in the cold like this and simply never wake up.  It sounded so good – he could sleep peacefully, knowing that they would escape, that they would restore Hope to a world frozen in Despair…_

_Then he felt warm, tender hands wrap themselves around his waist, and he remembered that that was all a lie._

_He didn’t want to look at her, but he was too weak to resist as she gently turned him on his back, and he found himself staring up at her face._

_No.  It wasn’t her face – he knew that now._

_“It’s okay,” the Actress whispered as she tilted his body upward, and he could feel her warm, easy breathing brush up on him.  “It’s over now. You_ won _.”_

_“Please, let’s not lie to him,” came a bored voice._

_The sound of metal scraping against metal somehow managed to drown out even the howling winds as he watched a figure emerge from the blizzard, dragging a long, thin object by their side._

_It was her, of course.  She had claimed not to know who she was, then had passed herself off as an Ultimate Conductor who would keep them safe for the rest of the journey that had already claimed so many.  She had even_ died _for them._

_And then, as the truth slowly, horrifically dawned on them, she returned - half of her white hair dyed black, a red scar painted over her left eye - and all she had to give them was a cruel smile and an impossible choice._

_And he…what else could he do?_

_She stopped next to him, staring down at his face, and he could now she that she had the axe with her – the axe that had killed two of them, and would have killed him, if…_

_Why?  Why had she saved him?  Why had she kept him alive?_

_“There isn’t a victory for him,” said the Conductor, her face impassive.  “He knows that better than anyone. He chose this, after all – he’s chosen it twice now.  Does he even know_ why _?”_

_He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.  Was he too weak to say anything? Or was it that everything he had thrown at her before now seemed so hollow?_

_“He did it to save them!” shouted the Actress, squeezing him tight.  “Why shouldn’t he have done that?”_

_The Conductor just tilted her head to the side._

_“Saved them?” she asked.  “From what? What has he delivered them from?  What salvation awaits them?”_

_Her words barely registered, as he had found his eyes were slowly being drawn to the axe.  The Conductor noticed, and raised an eyebrow at him._

_“You want this?”_

_A nod, which was about all he could muster._

_Malice flashed through her eyes, and a smile as friendly as a knife broke across her face as she hurled the axe away from them – he didn’t even hear it land._

_“No,” she whispered as wounds formed across her body, and pink (_ Pink? _No, that wasn’t right…) blood began to spill from them.  “No, you’ve done your part, and now you get what you deserve – just like they all did.”_

_The blood began to flow faster as she sank to her knees, staring up at the sunless sky._

_“After all, that’s what you wanted, right?”_

_And with that, she fell to the ground, dead.  Within seconds, the snow had completely covered her body._

_The Actress sighed, and turned to him, smiling the way one would smile at a child._

_Or maybe a pet._

_“Don’t worry about what she thought.  I know you’re going to be amazing!”_

_She gave him a light kiss on the forehead._

_“You always are.”_

* * *

**Auditions - Day 4**

Rantaro sprang awake, drenched in a cold sweat.  He could feel his heart pounding, and tried to slow his breathing – calm, deep breaths helped after nightmares like these.

He wanted to tell himself that it had just been a dream, but it rang hollow.  Of course, it hadn’t happened that way – the train had been far away by the time Ashikaga had revealed the truth to him, and the last time she had handled the axe had been before the fifth trial – but so much of it had resembled reality.  Ashikaga’s casual disdain for all of them, the way she had bled out, eyes blazing with hate, as Monokuma executed her…the way that Ryoko ( _Shirogane_ ) had smiled at him…

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push her face out of his mind, but it was impossible.

…She had been so… _proud_ of him…

Rantaro suddenly realized just why he had woken up – someone was knocking on the door to his suite.

“I…come in!”

The door opened, and Suzume Yumeno walked into the room.  She looked him up and down, raising an eyebrow.

“Why didn’t you ask me to wait for you to get dressed?” she asked him.  He looked down, and saw that he wasn’t wearing a shirt – he had taken it off the night before, feeling too hot.

“I, um…I forgot,” he said, well aware that this wasn’t likely to impress her.

Unexpectedly however, Yumeno just sighed.

“I suppose it can’t be helped,” she told him.  “Don’t worry about getting dressed for the day – a shirt will be enough for now.”

“What do you mean?” Rantaro asked as he reached for the shirt he had thrown off the night before, and then he noticed the two boxes she had tucked under her arm.

Yumeno smiled at him – a first, as far as he was concerned.

“I brought you breakfast – and a proposal, if you’ll hear it.”

She laid the boxes down at a nearby table and took a seat, motioning for Rantaro to join her.  Nervous, he sat down across from her, and she passed him one of the boxes. He opened it, and saw that it was filled with miniature waffles, a variety of fruits, and a few small pieces of ham.  His mouth began to water – he hadn’t been in the mood for eating the past couple of days, and as a result was rather undernourished. He resisted the urge to immediately being wolfing down the food, instead looking up at Yumeno, who was studying him closely.

He gave a quick “thank you”, and began to eat gingerly, with Yumeno doing the same.  After a minute or so, she spoke up.

“Tell me, Amami-san – how would you feel about making a special appearance for the applicants?”

Amami froze in mid-chew.  He hadn’t been asked to do this last time.

“As you might have guessed, this is not a normal part of the arrangement,” Yumeno continued.  “We’ve done it a few times in the past, but it tends to cause…stress...so we stopped. That said, things have changed now, and you’ve been adjusting fairly well, so we thought that we’d extent the offer to you.”

She reached into her briefcase and presented him with a pen, accompanied a new contract.

Rantaro stared at it for a good, long minute, unable to form a single thought.      

“…I can refuse?” he finally asked her.

“Well, technically speaking, you _are_ legally obligated to comply with our requests on matters like these.  But we thought it would be best if you were comfortable with the arrangement.  If you don’t want to do this, you’re free to say no, and no one will know but us.”

She was being nice, he realized – far nicer than Rantaro had ever seen her be.  It was clear that she wanted – no, she _needed_ him to cooperate.  Why, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t care – there was nothing that could persuade him to go along with this.

He opened his mouth to refuse, but before he could do so, Yumeno held up her hand.

“I know you’re not inclined to accept our offer,” she said, “but we wouldn’t have made it optional if we didn’t have some incentive…”

She reached into her briefcase once more and took out a small, square-shaped piece of paper that she then passed to him.

It was a photograph.  And in the photograph was…

 _Oh.  Oh no_ …

“Physically, I’m told they’re doing fine,” Yumeno told him.  “Mentally, however…well, they’ve been better. Perhaps if they could see your face again…”

He didn’t need any more than that.

“How long?” he asked her.

“We’ve put aside a few hours for you both today and tomorrow, no more than that,” she answered.  “You’ll mostly be signing autographs, along with a couple Q & A’s. Keep in mind, you’ll be sticking to our preferred answers there - I’ll be sure to brief you on them.  Security will be standing by, so you won’t have to worry about the more…enthusiastic fans. Now then, do we-”

Before she had time to finish her sentence, Rantaro grabbed the pen and swiftly signed his name.

“Done.”

This was a shit deal, he knew that.  But if he could talk to them one last time…maybe it would all be worth it.

* * *

"You alright, Saihara-kun?”

Shuichi shook himself awake to see Harukawa and Shirogane staring at him with concerned looks on their faces.

“Oh, y-you don’t need to worry about me,” he told them.  “I’m fine.”

In fact, Shuichi hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night.  Of course, he hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before that, either – every time he tried to close his eyes, the memory of Ikehara’s casual dismissal of him would immediately spring forth.  So he had done everything he could to put it out of his mind – reading a book, watching TV, surfing the internet – until sleep finally proved irresistible. Thankfully, the memories didn’t reach into his dreams, but it meant that he could only get a few hours of sleep, and last night had been particularly bad.

Fortunately, he was hardly the only one who was sleep-deprived.  By this point in the week, many of the other applicants – whether due to being nervous about an upcoming audition, distressed about one they had seemingly botched, or just plain excited – were staying up later than advisable as well.  Team Danganronpa had foreseen this, however, and were providing several stimulants with breakfast, including heavily caffeinated drinks. These seemed to do the trick, though they tended to make everyone who drank them rather jittery.

Shirogane smiled kindly at him.  She was one of the few who hadn’t seemed to have any trouble sleeping whatsoever – she was positively radiant.

“I know you’re nervous,” she told him, “but I really don’t think you need to worry.  You meant everything you said to them, and what they really want are people who love Danganronpa with all their hearts.”

She looked straight into Shuichi’s eyes as she said this, and he felt the same warm feeling from when she had embraced him after his audition wash over him.  Whatever Shirogane’s eccentricities – and as they had seen yesterday, she had a few – there was something about her that made him feel at ease, like everything was going to be alright.

“That’s…that’s very kind of you to say, Shirogane,” he said.

“Hey, Saihara-kun?” asked Harukawa, who had started to develop bags under her eyes.  This struck Shuichi as rather odd – she had seemed fairly normal the previous few days.  Was there something that was keeping her up?

“I was wondering…” she continued.  “What got you so into Danganronpa to begin with?”

_Oh no.  Oh nononononono-_

“Well, you know…same as everybody, I guess,” he said, hoping this would satisfy her.  “I had heard about it at school at lot, I managed to catch a season one day, and…well, that was that.”

“Is that _really_ it?” Shirogane asked him.  “Because…well, it feels like it runs deeper than that with you.”

No.

No, he couldn’t do this.  He _wouldn’t_ do this.

At least, that was what he would normally think.

But Shirogane…her eyes just seemed to bore into him, like they were drawing all of his most private thoughts out of his brain.  He _could_ tell her – no harm could come from it.

…Could it?

And so, before he could stop himself, he began to speak…

“Look, it’s just that…my parents died in a car accident about six years ago,” he began, glancing down at the table, “and…well, it pretty much broke me then.  Half the time, it was like I was watching someone else live my life, and the other half, it was like I was sleepwalking through it all – I can’t even remember my parents’ funeral.  I just…wasn’t there anymore. I was sent to live with my uncle after that, and he tried his best, but…well, he already had to deal with losing his sister and one of his oldest friends – my mom and dad, respectively – and having me, this…living reminder who wasn’t showing any signs of recovering...well, it wasn’t really doing any favors for his health.  I was sure that…well, that things were reaching an end, one way or another…”

He took a deep breath.  He could feel his eyes watering, but he knew he had to keep going.

“…and that’s when I was first introduced to Danganronpa.  I’d heard about it before, of course, but when I first saw it…I saw people who had lost everything, but still managed to pick themselves up and bring Hope back to the world.  It…it was like I was seeing the sun for the first time after years of nothing but rain. These guys – the Ultimates…they were willing to give up everything to give Hope to millions of people…”

He wiped the tears away and looked straight up at Shirogane.

“So I knew that I couldn’t just sit around moping! I wanted to do something that would have made my parents proud! So that’s why I’m here – to become a beacon of Hope just like the people who inspired me were!”

He finished, and then blushed – had he… _really_ just said all of that?

He braced himself for something – he didn’t know what.  A panic attack, maybe? He had avoided talking about this for so long – he knew that he would never be able to even form the words before, and now he had practically given a whole speech about it.  There was no way he could just do that and not suffer _something_.

And yet, it…didn’t hurt.  If fact, he felt…relieved.

…Yeah, he hadn’t expected that.

Still a bit nervous, he studied the girls’ expressions for a moment.  Harukawa seemed taken aback by this, not looking him in the eye. She seemed almost…ashamed?

But he only looked at her for a moment, though, as soon after that, he felt someone’s hand brush up against his own.  He turned to see Shirogane looking right at him with a sad look on her face, and he felt the urge to wrench his hand away – the last thing he wanted now was pity.

But no, this wasn’t pity, this was…

“My parents are gone too,” she whispered.  “My father…walked out on us, and my mom died when I was six.”

Oh.

He would have thought that not wanting pity would have meant that “I’m sorry” wouldn’t be the first words out of his mouth in a situation like this, and yet that’s just what they were.  Shirogane just shook her head, however.

“Thank you, but you don’t need to worry about me,” she said.  “I…I just wanted you to know that you’re not alone.”

Alone…maybe that was it?  All this time, he had just felt…alone?

“And besides!” Shirogane said brightly.  “I just know that once we get in, everything’s going to be okay!”

He wasn’t sure how she did it, but no matter how many times she said this, it sounded like the most obvious thing in the world – he believed it could happen.

Just then, Shirogane’s phone buzzed.  She quickly look at it, and then gave a yelp of surprise.

“ _Damn it damn it damn it damn it damn-”_

“What’s wrong, Shirogane-chan?” asked Harukawa, finally speaking up again.

“Oh, it’s, um…I just remembered I needed to make a whole bunch of phone calls today!” Shirogane said hurriedly as she got out of her seat.  “Stuff for, like, cosplaying and things like that!”

“Oh, um…okay,” said Shuichi, taken aback by the suddenness of this announcement.  “When will you be back?”

“Hard to say!” Shirogane shouted back at them, already heading towards the dining hall exit.  “It could take some time - I’ll try to find you guys as soon as I’m done! Bye for now!”

She waved farewell, and then was gone.  Shuichi and Harukawa sat in silence for a moment, neither looking at the other.

Finally, after about a minute, Harukawa spoke up.

“H-hey…do you remember those girls that she had us follow yesterday?”

“Oh yeah!” said Shuichi, who, however spilling his guts had made him feel, was very much glad that the attention was no longer on him.  “Those two girls from her high school, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Harukawa.  She hesitated for a moment, then continued, “One of them – the shorter one – I think her name was…Yumeno?  Does that sound familiar to you?”

_Yumeno…_

Come to think of it, he _had_ heard that name before – in the news, actually.  In fact…

“Yumeno…actually, I think there’s a Suzume Yumeno with Team Danganronpa! I think she’s the chief legal officer?”

“Yeah, I think you’re right!” said Harukawa with an excited nod.  “I think I’ve seen her name come up a few times – you know, whenever they have to deal with complaints?”

Shuichi nodded as well.  Yes, that was it, he was sure of it.

“Why do you ask?” he asked her.  “You think they’re related?”

“Oh…no, there’s no way!” she said, shaking her head.  “It’s got to be a coincidence, right? I mean, it can’t be _that_ uncommon of a name.”

Shuichi nodded, but in the back of his mind, a memory stirred – a memory of the Ultimate Detective from Season 42, the first season he had ever watched:

_“Rule Number One: There’s no such thing as a coincidence.”_

* * *

“Alright, let’s take this from the top, just so we can make sure that this gets drilled into that skull of yours, and this time, make it sincere. ‘Why do you want to be on Danganronpa?’”

“‘Because I love the series more than anything, and it’s my life’s dream to become an Ultimate.’”

“I said make it _sincere._ ”

“What, with dialogue like this?  C’mon, Banba-san, give me something to work with!”

Kaito had just been leaving the restroom when he had overheard the nearby argument.  Peeking around the corner, he saw Ouma being yelled at by his manager, Banba, with the young actor appearing bored by the whole conversation.

“Don’t talk back to me like that!” growled Banba, guzzling down the coffee he was holding.  “Christ, you’ve gone rotten. Why was it that just two years ago, you were reading the hell out of any script you got, no matter how shit it was, but now you’re acting like spoiled princess?”

Ouma rolled his eyes.

“Well, back then it was _fun_.”

“Oh, you think you get to be picky now, eh?” said Banba.  “Let me tell you something – this is way bigger than anything you’ve done before.  Millions of people, all over the world, will be watching. You _need_ this – this is your chance to be more than a flash in the pan.  Because if you stick to the road you’re on right now, you’re gonna burn out within a year, two tops.”

“Better to go out in a blaze of glory then, huh?” Ouma responded evenly.

Banba stepped closer to Ouma, so that his face was merely inches from his client’s.

“You wouldn’t be the only kid here to think that way,” he whispered.

Ouma just sighed.

“Look, we’ve still got a day before the audition,” he said.  “I’ll be able to memorize whatever I need to tonight – we don’t need any more of these pop quizzes.  I mean, we _know_ when the auditions are.”

Banba looked like he was about to object, then started to consider this, before finally relenting.

“Fine,” he told Ouma.  “But we _are_ going over it tonight.”

He turned around and stalked off.  Kaito pressed himself against the wall as he walked past, but he needn’t have bothered – Banba was too annoyed to look anywhere but straight ahead.

“Finally,” sighed Ouma.  “And here I was afraid that the entire day would be a waste.  You’re a pretty good at hiding, Momota-chan – angling for Ultimate Ninja?”

_God fucking damn it._

“How’d you know I was here?” said Kaito as he emerged from around the corner.

Ouma’s face split into a wide grin.

“The sound of your breathing is pretty…distinct.”

“…Seriously?”

“No, I just saw your freakishly large hair sticking out from around the corner,” confessed Ouma.  “Anyway, I’m just _flattered_ that you’ve decided to start stalking me.”

Ah, there it was – that Ouma-induced rage that he had become all too acquainted with over the past couple days.

“I’m not stalking you! I just had to take a shit, and I-”

“Whoa, whoa – too much information, Momota-chan!”

“You little-”

No.  He wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them, decided to turn the tables a bit.

“Why do you act like that with him, anyway?” Kaito asked him.  “Aren’t you worried that he’ll cancel your contract or something?”

Ouma just laughed.  “ _Please_.  Bando’s reputation is in the gutter, after most of his previous efforts crashed and burned.  I’m his last shot – if I don’t make it big in a major way, he’s done for. He literally can’t afford to lose me.”

Kaito didn’t want to admit it, but part of him was jealous of Ouma.  Being indispensable like that, somebody that couldn’t be ignored or replaced…he wished he could be like that.  All his life, he’d been dependent on his father for everything, while the old man had never thought of him as anything worth mentioning.  If only Kaito could make him utterly dependent on _him_ – he could say anything he wanted to his dad and get away with it.

He’d never say this aloud, of course – he knew that Ouma would never let it go if he did.

“Don’t you kinda need him too, though?” he asked instead.

Ouma shrugged.  “I have my résumé.  I could probably find a new manager if I needed one – no one would bother using Bando as a reference anyway.  And even if I couldn’t…well, maybe I’d be better off I if didn’t stick around in this business for much longer anyway.”

“Why’s that?” Kaito asked him.

“Showbiz has always been pretty ugly,” said Ouma as he walked back towards the lobby, Kaito following him.  “And it’s _not_ going to get better – if anything, it’ll get worse.  As long as I’m dancing to their tune, they’re going to be squeezing as much as they can out of me before I run dry.  So I’m going to do the same, and see if I can’t squeeze _them_ dry first.  Still, if they decide they’re done with me early…well, maybe it’ll a mercy killing, so to speak.”

“So what, are you saying that if you die on Danganronpa, you’re cool with it?” asked Kaito.

“ _Well-_ ”

“There you are!”

The two of them turned to see Angie walked over to them, accompanied by a tall, pale girl with silvery hair.

“Angie was looking everywhere for you, Kokichi!” the girl said, never losing her ever-constant smile.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” said Ouma with a grin.  “Work problems, y’know? Who’s your friend?”

“Hello,” said the girl in a quiet voice, giving a sheepish bow.  “I’m Kirumi Tojo. It’s an honor to meet you, Ouma-san.”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” said Ouma.  “And this here is-”

“Momota,” interrupted Kaito forcefully, before Ouma could seize control over his introduction.  “Kaito Momota.”

Tojo flinched slightly.

“It’s…nice to meet you too, Momota-san,” she said, eying him nervously.

This gave Kaito some confusion.  Was he too intimidating or something?  Eh, it probably wasn’t important.

“So, how do you two know each other?” asked Ouma.

“Well, um…I met Angie the other day, when I was having a…problem,” Tojo said hesitantly.  “And she helped me out a bit. Then today, we just happened to run into each other, and…well, a friend of mine had suggested that I be a bit more open with people, so…”

“More open, huh?” said Ouma.  “Here, of all places?”

“Well, yes, I suppose that might sound a bit strange,” said Tojo.  “Actually, I think they’ll be-”

“Number 382! Kirumi Tojo!”

“Oh, there we go!” Tojo said with a start.  “Excuse me, everyone - I’ll be right back.”

“Good luck!” said Angie as her friend made her away to the audition room doors.

“Wasn’t that the girl you told me about the other day?” asked Ouma.  “The one who collapsed?”

“Shh! Kokichi, not so loud!” Angie chided him.  “Angie shouldn’t have mentioned that – she thinks that Kirumi is very sensitive about that.”

“Alright, alright, my bad.”

Kaito wasn’t paying much attention to them, merely watching as Tojo passed through the doors to the audition room.  He had heard that a girl had collapsed for whatever reason, but didn’t know that it had been Tojo. Not that he was surprised – she looked pretty sickly, and easily spooked for that matter.  It probably wouldn’t take much to take her out.

In fact…

Well, okay, he doubted that they would actually put someone like her on the show, and even if she did make it, they probably would change her up considerably.

Still…if she did end up on there as she was…

Well, there had been harder targets…

* * *

“Ah, here we are!” said Sawada as the latest applicant walked in.  “Now _this_ is a promising one.”

“Are you kidding?” asked Ozawa.  “She looks like she’s about to drop dead.”

Indeed, Kirumi Tojo did not look well at all, and while part of it was almost definitely nerves, something about the way she walked and her very pale face gave the impression that she was very ill indeed.

Still, thought Sawada, there _was_ value in that…

As Hagiwara (who had swapped shifts with Ikehara for the final two days of interviews) went through the introductions, Kagawa sifted through Tojo’s file.

“Hm, this is…quite extensive,” he said, frowning as he read it.  “Are we certain that we can legally consider her?”

“I checked with Yumeno before she went to oversee Amami,” said Sawada.  “As long as the applicant and their parents have consented, it’s legal.”

“You checked with Yumeno?” asked Ozawa.  “Don’t tell me you’re going to bat with this girl!”

“Well, not her _specifically_ ,” said Sawada with a grin.  “Just watch.”

* * *

“So, Tojo-san, tell me – why do you want to be on Danganronpa?”

Kirumi took a deep breath.  She had been worried she might start to fall asleep, but now she felt wide awake, which was both a blessing and a curse – while she could audition to the best of her abilities, she was now acutely aware of the pressure.

In any case, she had to press on.

“Well, please understand that I haven’t been well for quite some time,” she began.  “So I suppose this is my way of making up for that.”

_That’s good – play it calm and confident.  Keep your demeanor conservative – don’t get emotional._

She had decided early on that the best way to handle this was to treat it almost like a job interview.  Many of the applicants would probably act like…well, like fans, and while that did seem to go over well, that would _not_ being playing to her strengths – she’d probably come across as overly desperate, and it would bring her illness to the forefront in way that wasn’t very photogenic.

“What do you mean?” prompted Hagiwara.

Kirumi took another deep breath.

“Well, I’ve always been dependent on others for care.  This is really the first opportunity I’ve had to make my own choices.  So while I _do_ want the prize money to help pay for treatments, that’s secondary – what I’m _really_ hoping for is for others to be dependent on me for a change.”

Hagiwara scribbled something down enthusiastically.

“Great, great! I love it! So what sort of role are you looking for here – a public servant, maybe?”

“Servant”…no, she shouldn’t…but then again…

“That certainly seems like a good idea.  Or maybe…”

She couldn’t believe she was going with this…

“…maybe a maid?”

“Oh, a maid would be excellent!” Hagiwara said excitedly.  “Great idea, Tojo-san! _Everybody_ loves maids!”

 _Really?_ said Tojo (in her head, of course).   _And how much do_ you _like them, incidentally?_

It’s not that she _disliked_ maids.  It was just that…well, when she wanted others to be dependent on her, she didn’t know if she wanted to be… _servile_.  The point was for her to be independent, after all.

Still, if this was her way in, she wasn’t about to let it slip away.

“I’m glad you approve,” she said with a slight smile.

* * *

“A maid…” mused Fukumoto after Tojo had left.

“A maid…” repeated Sawada.

“A maid…” added Ozawa.

“Yes, yes, a maid,” Kagawa brusquely cut in.  “We’ll create all-new Ultimate Maid merchandise – Maid dolls, Maid figurines, Maid pin-ups, Maid costumes for Maid cosplayers! Perhaps we’ll hire them to work out our very own chain of Maid cafes, where they can put on their very best Maid roleplays for customers to see – in the flesh – Maids at work!  Hell, we’ll even have Maid call girls – just to cover our bases, of course! Now, may we _please_ discuss the suitably of one Kirumi Tojo?”

Everyone stared at them in silence.

“Do you…need a moment?” asked Mukai hesitantly.

“No…no, it’s nothing,” sighed Kagawa.  “I just think it’s a tired trend. The market, alas, does not agree with me.”

“That, and he hates our fanbase,” chimed in Sawada.

“Only the ones that directly message me on social media,” said Kagawa, quietly massaging his temples.  “They’re like a hydra – for each one I block, three more take their place. Regardless, it will make us a fortune, so my personal feelings are irrelevant.”

“As they should be!” Sawada said insistently.  Honestly, she thought, for a financial genius, Kagawa could be annoyingly dense sometimes.  “You said it yourself - now more than ever, we need the money, and that means we need to pounce on any merchandising opportunity we find.  Fans and their money - it’s grist for the machine. We can still grow, but you need _food_ to do that.  Get our finger into as many pies as possible, and they’ll all come running!”

Kagawa sighed again.

“Yes, yes, you’ve made your point - you can stop with the metaphors.  Now. Tojo. Discuss.”

“Well, imagine this…” began Sawada.  “We take this girl, bring her on, and plaster her face all over the internet.”

“I already like where this is going,” said Fukumoto.

“Fret not, it gets better.  We tell the story of a sickly young girl who desired, more than anything, to be free of her illness.  And not only will the money her family pay for medicine, if she wins, she’ll be able to afford treatments that will ensure that she’s never sick again.  And best of all, we’ll be giving her dream life – the chance to become the person she’s always wanted to be. Maybe she won’t be a protagonist, but she can still be a plausible dark horse.   _Everyone_ will be rooting for her, and should she perish, well…”

She smiled.

“They’ll glued to their screens 24/7.  And that’s not even getting into the possible effects on applications for Season 54.”

She stood up and threw her arms wide.

“And _that,_ gentlemen, is how you do P.R.”

* * *

“Tenko just can’t get over how huge this place is,” said Tenko as she and Himiko entered the train station.  Tenko had no intention of leaving just yet, of course, but she had wanted to explore a bit, and she had only been here briefly before, when she had first arrived.

“Well, the show’s a pretty big deal,” said Himiko as she nodded at a nearby security guard, who only gave her the slightest acknowledgement before going back to his phone.  “I guess if anyone’s going to have something this big, it’d be these guys.”

“That’s true,” admitted Tenko.  “But isn’t Danganronpa the most expensive show in history or something?  How can they afford this?”

“They’ve got some pretty huge backers,” replied Himiko.  “And the CEO, Kichiro Fukumoto, is massively wealthy himself.  From what my mom told me, he inherited some huge corporation from his dad, and actually sold a lot of it off just to help finance this – it’s like his dream project or something.”

Tenko couldn’t even begin to comprehend how much money might be at play here.  She wasn’t sure how much her dad made a month, but it was practically subatomic when compared to this.  Hell, even her dad’s bosses probably didn’t have anything on this, and the company he worked for was fairly successful.

“How many people come here, anyway?” she asked.  “Like, visiting? Back in when Tenko was a kid, everyone in her class wanted to take a field trip here, but the teachers always got mad when someone brought it up.”

“That’s not a big surprise,” said Himiko.  “A lot of elementary schools flatout ban Danganronpa paraphernalia.  Of course, by high school, they don’t really bother…”

“Heh, yeah,” said Tenko, smiling.  “Tenko remembers when this one boy in her class got caught with a Monokuma keychain.  He got in so much trouble…”

“To answer your earlier question,” said Himiko, apparently ignoring her, “there aren’t really as many visitors as you’d think.  Everything’s really busy pretty much year-round, and the higher-ups don’t really like people seeing the inside of the place if they don’t either work here or auditioning.”

“So, this whole place is just used by employees and the applicants?  Can they, like, afford that?”

Himiko shrugged.  “Apparently.”

Tenko nodded.  She could certainly believe it.

It was weird, though – Himiko hadn’t wanted to talk about Danganronpa before, but now she was being really forthcoming.  Tenko wasn’t complaining – she wasn’t at all interested in business, and she found herself loving that she was getting the inside scoop – but it was very odd…

“Still, this train station was certainly convenient,” she said, trying to push the thoughts out of her mind.  “Tenko would have hated to have to come out of the public station and go through the front door – it would have been a nightmare!”

“Yeah, I’d certainly think so,” replied Himiko.  “What with all the protestors.”

Wait, what?

“What protestors?”

“I mean the protestors against the show,” said Himiko.  “They’re probably outside the front gate right now, in fact.  There aren’t usually a whole lot of them, and they don’t usually get much media attention, if any, but there’s been a pretty big swell over the last year or so, and some outlets are starting to pick it up.  What, you didn’t hear?”

“N-no, I didn’t…” said Tenko slowly, and she couldn’t help noticing that Himiko was watching her intently.  “That’s…um…well…”

At that moment, a TV screen built into a nearby wall that had been flashing some silent ads suddenly blared to life, and the familiar visage of Junko Enoshima came into view.

“Are we live yet?” she asked someone off-camera, in a voice that seemed oddly normal for the Ultimate Despair (and strangely familiar?).  There was a whispered reply, and alarm spread across her face.

“Um…” said Junko, looking panicked for a moment before her face grew more confident and a sadistic smile stretched across it.  “Well, look at all of you! Prancing about with all your _Hope_ and optimism – makes me want to puke!  What do all of you have to be so happy about?  Most of you aren’t even gonna make the cut!”

Tenko grimaced.  She supposed that it was Junko’s job to make them feel Despair, but still, the idea that she had screwed up her audition made her very nervous.

“Still, I suppose I’ve gotta give you guys _some_ hope,” groaned Junko.  “So, we at Team Danganronpa are pleased to announce that in just thirty minutes, we will be holding a very special Q  & A session in the auditorium!  Auditions will proceed as normal, but don’t worry if you can’t make it – our guest will be here both today _and_ tomorrow.”

A special guest?  Who could that be?

“And please,” continued Junko.  “Try _not_ to trample each other on the way there?  We need at least _some_ of you live through this, and we’d definitely prefer if our guest…”

She let out a long stream of giggles.

“… _survives_ the experience.”

With that, Junko’s face blinked away, the screen returning to the monotony of ads.

 _Wait…_ thought Tenko.   _“Survive”?  Does…does that mean…_

“We have to go there right now!” she said excitedly as she turned to Himiko.  “We can’t afford to miss this!”

Himiko stared at Tenko, like she was waiting for her to say something else, then shook her head, and sounding almost disappointed, said “Alright, sounds cool.  Let’s go.”

Nodding eagerly, Tenko turned and began to race up the stairs, sometimes taking two at a time while Himiko trailed behind her.  As Tenko stopped for a moment to wait for the other girl to catch up, Himiko’s words – which were from what, a minute ago? – emerged to the fore of her mind.

_Protestors…_

But she dismissed the thought.  Just because someone wanted to complain about something didn’t mean that they were right.  They just didn't understand what the show meant to all of them - what it had done for them, and so many others.

It was theirs, and no one had the right to take it away from them.

* * *

Rantaro peeked through the stage curtains as the auditorium began to fill.  Not every applicant was there – many had apparently decided to wait until the next day – but at least half were.  Fortunately, he wouldn’t need to sign an autograph for _everyone_ – that would be decided by a raffle.

Still…

“We start in just three minutes,” Yumeno said from behind him.  “Remember, stick to the pre-approved answers. Veer off-script, and you can kiss your little chat goodbye.”

Rantaro gulped, but nodded.  No, he didn’t know if he could handle this…but he had to try.  After everything that he had done…well, maybe this would make up for it.

It would, right?

He had hoped for more time to prepared, but three minutes ticked by quicker than expected, and soon, he heard Monokuma (God, he would give anything never to hear that voice again) announce, “Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce our Despairfully Special Guest…”

This was it – the moment of truth…

“…The Ultimate Survivor of both the Killing Sanctum Challenge of Ultimate Death _and_ the Killing School Railway to Hell…”

_Higashi, Rei…everyone…this is for you…_

“…RANTARO AMAMI!”

And he stepped out into the light.

* * *

_??????? Theater_

_So, I finally caught the remake of_ Little Shop of Horrors _that an old friend did a few years back on TV last night._

_I remember there being a bit of controversy when it was first announced – while keeping the original ending where the planets destroy the world was well-received, the changes she made to Audrey II were…less so._

_Namely, making the monstrous, Venus Flytrap-like creature some sort of…plant lady.  Albeit one that could_ transform _into a monstrous, Venus Flytrap-like creature, but still, a pretty…major change._

 _That said, there_ was _a larger point at play here, namely what – or rather,_ whom _– this new Audrey II resembled.  This is only made more apparently during “Don’t Feed the Plants”, wherein several Audrey babies coming swarming out of a storefront, toppling over a display of…yep, Monokuma plushies._

_(Mind you, not sure if you could get away with putting those at the very front of a store in New York City, but hey, assholes are everywhere, especially in New York…actually, let’s just make that every city, everywhere.)_

_Anyway, no, she didn’t ask permission before doing that…from anyone.  But they have bigger things to worry about than a relative ant like Dead Man’s Hand Studio, and I haven’t given a shit in years, so…fuck it, she can do what she wants._

_Don’t feed the plants, kids – they’ll just eat you alive._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Yeah, that took WAY too long.
> 
> Apologies for the wait - I had a bit of writer's block with the Tenko stuff, and I then ended up getting hooked on the Legend of the Heroes JRPGs, which ended up taking up a lot of my time, and that's not even counting a whole lot of other stuff. But I'm back now, and while I don't want to make any promises for fear of breaking them, I'm going to try to devote more time to this. There's still a story I really want to tell here, and I've really been encouraged by the feedback I've gotten so far, so I hope you continue to enjoy it. Thank you all so much for reading this, you guys!
> 
> Now then, I've mentioned another story that I wanted to do in previous chapter notes, but as I've thought about it, I'm come to think it was no longer practical. It was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but it rapidly ballooned into something much larger as I kept coming up with new ideas, and I realized that I probably couldn't write it simaltanously with this one. That said, I still want to tell the story, and I think I have a golden opportunity to do so. So next chapter, we're going to take a break from the auditions for a bit...
> 
> ...and finally take a look at Season 52.
> 
> All aboard.


End file.
